Collide
by MissAnomaly
Summary: Years have passed, and now her life at Playa Linda was in the past, but what happens when the past crops up in Allie’s life again? Her past collides with her present in ways more than one. R&R people.. Sequel to Chemicals React..
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N I'm ba-a-ack! Haha.. Okay, this took, a little longer than expected, sorry bout that, but Bradin and Aaliyah returns in Collide, the sequel to Chemicals React._

_So anyway, as per usual I'll let the story do the explaining. And.. As always, reviews are loved and adored, as are the review-EE's. Anonymous reviewing is turned on by the way, so let me know what you think. And you really should read Chemicals React first, this is after all a sequel, but it should be fine even if you don't should be.. ._

_Okay, so here it is, the shall not say long awaited plain awaited sequel to Chemicals React, Collide. Enjoy.._

**Collide**

Aaliyah tossed the keys into the bowl as she stepped out of the elevator and walked into the large penthouse of hers. She pulled of her black skinny jacket tossing it on the lounge chair along with her large tote bag to reveal a casual white strapless blouse and jeans beneath. With her brown mane untidily piled on the top of her head and tired looking eyes, it looked as if someone had one hell of a wild night.

Headed straight toward the kitchen, Allie tossed the bowls she'd ignored leaving in such a hurry before collapsing on the couch in the living room. She looked round the room for the millionth time after living there for years, it still took her breath away, how her father was so filthily rich and she nor anybody else had not known, was beyond her.

The room was a tasteful combination of Early American reproductions mixed and matched with some authentic English antiques.

The cream colored rug accented the translucent beige draperies. The beige carpeted floor was clean and unsoiled. The couch was a fifties reproduction, straight backed, stiff-armed, sitting in front of a fireplace. A row of square chenille pillows marched along its length.

A glass topped coffee table sat exactly a feet and a half from the couch without so much as a speck of dust on it.

A brushed circular staircase wound its way up to the second floor at the far end of the room, near the elevator, and one wall of the room was completely glass, which opened to the balcony where it looked out to the lights of the city. The apartment was vast and opulent yet organized within an inch of its life, thanks to the trustful housekeeping that came along with the quarters of course, there was no way Allie would have managed to keep the vast residence clean, let alone organized to such extents.

Without fail, every day, the kitchen would be neat and clean, rooms tidy and orderly, beds made with such military precision, so tight and smooth that a quarter bounced off it's surface would have traveled halfway up to the ceiling before making it back down.

Deciding it was going to be a long day ahead of her, she went up to her bathroom, its extravagance was equal to the rest of the apartment; large white marble slabs covered the floor, a large mirror held by its gold frame with red velvety cloth draped over it hung just above the white marbled top teak counter with gold trimmings and a small Turkish bath.

She eased herself into the bath, which felt heavenly and held her breath as she dunked herself wetting her hair. The hot water surrounding her was calming as the steam fogged up the room. She was relaxed, at ease, a first for quiet a while, and slowly she drifted off to the music wafting from the over head stereo system.

And then, her eyes snapped open and she glanced at the clock, "Crap!" she cursed, jumping out of the tub, she pulled on a robe and grabbed an ivory towel of the rack rubbing her hair vigorously, drying it roughly. She pulled on a long sleeved black top and jeans, grabbing her bag, jacket and keys as she entered the elevator.

Aaliyah was late, she was so late, and she realized she was always late, and late was the one thing she shouldn't be for her first day as a surgical intern in Lennox Hill. She found them where she hoped they'd be and she entered the Operating Room just as the man speaking was finishing his short speech.

"This is your arena," he said turning around to face the room of young hopefuls, well, comparatively young, "How well you play, that's up to you," and the familiar face glanced over at the out of breath Aaliyah's direction and gave her a fleeting nod, she smiled in return.

"I hope he didn't think that was inspirational," a red headed female whispered to her, and Allie chuckled.

"I'm Paige," the red head said.

"Allie," Aaliyah offered her hand and they shook on it as the group moved on to the locker room where they changed.

"Who's your resident?" she asked.

"Barrish," the red head named Paige replied, "You?"

"Well, at least we'll suffer together," Allie said as she pulled on her scrubs.

"Barrish too?"

"Yeah," she replied, closing the locker as Paige pulled on her white coat. Her red hair made her stand out, but her features was striking, full lips, green eyes, and a fair complexion.

"Only 3 girls out of 20, can you believe it?" Allie asked, counting the crowded locker room.

"Yeah, well, at least we're together, with Barrish, but still,"

"Montgomery! Sawyer! Bryce! Cooper!" a piercing voice came from the door and the both females head snapped towards the direction of the voice to see a petite female holding multiple things in her hands. Her blonde hair cropped short and tied at the back of her head but those too short fell messily around her face.

"Barrish?" Allie asked, uncertainly as they both walked toward her, Allie hung her stethoscope over her neck as they stopped in front of the at most 5'3'' blonde female. From the things she heard, she figured Dr. Barrish would have been a man, tall, burly and dark, hardcore, ruthless, a pain in the ass but a top of the cut in the program.

"I'm Dr. Barrish, these are your trauma protocols, phone list, pagers," she stated as she passed every item to the gaping interns in front of her, "Nurses page you and you answer, Every page, At a Run, A run," she continued, emphasizing certain words. Her piercing blue eyes bore into their faces as she turned around to lead them away from the area.

Allie, Paige, and two other males scurried along behind her to keep up with her short feet taking quick strides.

"Your first shift starts now and lasts for 48 hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain, your run labs, write orders, work every second night till you drop and don't complain," she continued, taking them down the hall toward the on-call rooms.

"On call room, attendings hog them, sleep when you can wherever you can," she ploughed on as she opened the door and switched on the lights and they peeked inside.

The small group made their way across more hallways, all the while, Dr. Barrish speaking, explaining to her charges what she can curtly offhandedly, and then all their beepers rang at once and they rushed toward the emergency unit where the paramedics brought in a male on a gurney. Allie's ears were buzzing with Barrish's voice, trying to absorb whatever she could, imbedding it deeply to mind.

"What do we have?" Barrish asked the EMT as Allie glanced at the unconscious male before exchanging a glance with Paige.

"Nathan Alexander, 36 years old, collapsed giving a talk, passed out, condition's stabilized, underlying cause unknown," he replied as they pushed the gurney into the elevator. Barrish started bellowing instructions as soon as they got the patient into a room.

"Good morning Dr. Bailey," a tall man entered the room and picked up the chart.

"Dr Summers," she replied curtly.

"Well, let's shotgun him," the one called Dr. Summers stated as he finished flipping the pages of the chart and put it down.

"That means every test in the book, CT, CBC, Chem-7, tox-screen," the resident explained as the attending walked out of the room, "Bryce, labs, Cooper, Sawyer, patient work ups, Montgomery, take him to CT and do an EKG and echo his heart, he's your responsibility now," she hollered the instructions and they nodded.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get to it!"

_A/N Kinda short, kinda messy, I know, but this is kinda more of a prologue._

_Oh, and most of the second half was taken from Grey's Anatomy's first ep, I needed material to write being a first day intern so.. oh well, the next one will be better, promise. Press the little button, you know you want to.._

_Let me know what you think, like the direction, don't like it. Thanks you.._

_Oh, and there'll be the surprise in the next one._

_xOxO _

_mAnomaly_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Okay, the beginning is a little bit of a filler I suppose, the middle gives us some character expansion and the surprise is in the end for you who have not guessed it yet, but I'm thinking after 30 or so chapters I'm anything but unpredictable by now, anyway, here we go, chapter 2 of collide._

_Oh, and don't skip just to get to the surprise… It's not the destination that matters but the journey, si? Haha, okay, here we go.._

**Collide**

"Hello?" the dark haired male said into the cell in his hands after 2 rings.

Aaliyah looked up automatically from the papers in the charts in her hands.

"No, I'm feeling much better," he said to the phone.

"Mr. Alexander," she whispered placing down the films and papers as he continued his conversation. He held up his free hand at her signaling her to wait a moment.

"No, what you can do is get your board together and increase the med shipments," he said into the phone yet again, "Look, I have to go, I'll call you back," he said again before hanging up.

The thirty something patient that was Allie's 'responsibility' turned out to be much harder to deal with once he was awake, it seems he was a doctor, a certified immunologist who worked in a free clinic in Africa and came back for a meeting with a pharmaceutical board for medications when he collapsed.

"It's BLEU, the good pharmaceutical," he said with a charming smile.

He wasn't bad looking too, dark hair, stormy grey eyes, tall thin, charming as hell too. The nurses were positively swooning over this doctor patient. It was no wonder the guy is put up on a pedestal though, Allie mused, he clearly cared for people, not only was he a doctor, he was a doctor who worked for almost nothing in a third world country.

"Yeah, but no cells, hospital regs, sorry," she replied holding her hand out to take the phone away from him, "There is a phone you could use in here you know,"

"Yeah, I noticed," he replied.

"I just figured, I mean, I didn't know what facilities you were used to in Africa,"

"Thank you,"

"You're welcome," she replied.

"You interested in doing any pro bono work?"

"We've a clinic on the ground floor, the interns are all required to do hours,"

"You're an intern?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm a little over the hill compared to the others but.." she said but got cut off.

"No, it's just you seem to really know you stuff, for a intern, I mean, I thought you were the on call resident,"

"Well, I'm not," she replied with a smile before exiting the room, Allie did not want to be flirting with a patient, her first patient ever on her first day, being late was a bad enough start she figured. Walking out of the room, she bumped into her fellow intern sent to get the labs and tox done,

"Anything on tox?" she asked her fellow intern, Ned Bryce.

"Nothing, the guy's all clean," he answered.

"And by the way, I am too, you know, I mean, if you want to.." he said with a smirk.

"Hmm.. Of course, who wouldn't want to sleep with the horny colleague who makes comment on my ass behind my back," Allie replied cutting him off raising an eyebrow at him.

"You heard that?"

"Everyone heard it Bryce,"

"You can call me Ned, but you gotta admit, I do have a point, it looks a lot better than a lot of chick's faces, it's tight, and you're as cute as hell,"

"So is a mountain lion Ned, but you don't pet it," she snapped.

"We got anything?" came a grating voice from behind them.

"Tox screen and labs got nothing,"

"CT didn't show anything and the stress test was normal," Aaliyah stated passing the papers to her petite resident.

"His EKG was not," she replied, as she read the papers.

"But the echo was," Allie argued.

"The EKG showed an abnormal heart rate,"

"It's minute," Ned commented as he peered over Barrish's shoulder, which based on her height was not that hard a thing to do.

"But it's there,"

"The stress and echo are the more reliable tests," Allie ploughed on.

"Do a tilt table test,"

"That never works,"

"Montgomery, you need to get one thing straight, I am your resident, you do what I say, now go wheel the good doctor for a tilt table test, and Bryce, you go with her," she ordered firmly before walking away.

"Don't know why you bother, she's like Hitler, if you haven't noticed," Ned commented smirking at Allie and she chuckled before turning around to wheel the patient for another test.

"The test showed that your heart had an abnormal rhythm, wave forms showed an abnormal P-R variability," Allie informed the handsome male in front of her as Barrish hovered at the doorway watching her intern inform the patient of their findings.

Bryce had been a total idiot in the exam room and Barrish walked in on it, so he was now performing some very nasty rectal exams for patient, just before lunch.

"And what does that tell us, Montgomery?" she quizzed her first day intern.

"Sick sinus syndrome, a loose throttle, heart beats sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow," Allie stated immediately and she received a nod from her resident. 4 years in med school really do pay off.

"It could have been very dangerous for you if you were in Africa away from the required medical help," she continued looking back at the patient.

"So I'm gonna need a pacemaker?" Nathan Alexander asked and Allie was ready to answer the question when another voice did it before she could.

"Yes, and you are in very good hands, Dr. Alexander," came the voice from the doorway as a tall sandy blonde entered the room complete with a white coat and stethoscope over his neck. Aaliyah paused for a moment. It was an awfully familiar voice, a familiar voice which she was not planning on hearing, ever, and she looked up from the patient just in time to see his surprised emerald eyes gaze into hers.

"This is Dr. Westerly, our new cardio specialist, he will be handling your case from here as well as your surgery, doctor," Barrish explained as Bradin Westerly shook the patient's hands with his eyes still transfixed on Allie.

_A/N Okay, I lied, not much better, and not much longer, but hey, Surprise! haha.. Wait for the next one.. It should be up soon. Review please? I know it's short but let me know your thoughts, what you think of the direction and all the other what nots.. Thanks!_

_xOxO_

_mAnomaly_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Sort off a filler, might be a little dry, you have been warned, and oh, a little dry and a little long too.. Haha.. But bear with me.._

_Thanks acciodanrad9, HistoryNerd, 6Ellie6, and ShiaLover09._

_JusttheGirl07 : Haha, wow, thanks really, glad you like the idea, and I'm gonna be stealing many patients from there, and house, just to keep the drama up, you know the patients that give them like a better understanding of themselves and in a way that they can relate to and give them like great epiphanies and stuff.._

_angel-prncess-18 : Wow, that's great, really, hope it wasn't too much of a strain on your eyes, 33 chapters in a day.. Haha.. Anyway, glad your liking it.._

_I won't give the ending away just yet by the way, whether they're gonna get back together or not. Many challenges lie ahead of them so we'll just have to wait and see.. Okay, not really, I already do know, I have it planned out, you'll have to wait and see.. Haha, this is me being mean.. xD_

_Anyway, let's get to it shall we, here we are, Chapter 3.. Enjoy.. _

**Collide**

_"This is Dr. Westerly, our new cardio specialist, he will be handling your case from here as well as your surgery, doctor," Barrish explained as Bradin Westerly shook the patient's hands with his eyes still transfixed on Allie._

"God! 3601 is such a pain in the ass!" the red head complained as she pulled a chair to the already full lunch table snapping Aaliyah out of her thoughts, "If I hadn't taken the Hippocratic Oath, I'd Kevorkian her with my bare hands," she continued as she slammed her tray on to the table.

"What?" Aaliyah asked as she was brought back to reality.

"You know, the oath, do no harm?" Paige stated as she huffily started stabbing her salad.

"Well, it's not like they make you sign it," Allie commented drawing some scattered chuckle from the table laden with interns.

"You'll need to get something down eventually, the first shift's a marathon, not a sprint," the male named Cooper said to Ned as he took another hearty bite out of his sandwich. He was skinny, tall, with matted black locks on his head, and, and Allie was quite certain of it, gay.

"You try eating after doing like 10 rectal exams," he replied pushing his tray away from him.

"Should have thought about that before talking bout 'tapping' in front of Barrish doncha think?" Allie asked before taking a swig of her bottle water.

"What's wrong with tapping?" Amy, the only other female intern, asked and the entire table turned to look at her as though to ask, seriously kid? She was petite, with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail behind her, and a little slow on the uptake on certain things, innocent and sweet, they were all sure, a push over and very doe eyed naive girl next door.

"Ah, damn it!" an intern named Tony commented as his beeper went off along with a few others, they scurried off. And at that moment, something caught Paige's attention, "Incoming, 12 o'clock," she said with a spoon of yogurt in her mouth, and all the heads turned to the entrance of the cafeteria.

"I heard the chief stole him for double pay," Amy whispered leaning into the table.

'Perfect!' Allie thought looking away hoping Bradin wouldn't see her. What was the protocol when you see an ex who broke your heart and you ran away without hearing his explanation after nine, almost ten years? 'God you're screwed Allie,' she thought to herself as the gossip started.

"Dude's a freaking legend, he's like the cardio god of the century," Ned piped in.

"Youngest cardio god of the century," Paige corrected, "He graduated top of John Hopkins on scholarship and finished his residency in like record time, can you believe he's only 28?"

"Whoa, what magazines do you read? A Stalker's Guide to Doctors of Manhattan?" Cooper asked.

"Why you wanna know where I get it?" Paige teased.

"Oh god, he's just so effing hot," Amy nearly drooled onto the table with her fork sticking out of her mouth.

"I know.." Paige said dreamily plopping her cheek onto her hand rested on the table.

"And you guys think I'm the perv?" Ned asked.

"When you're undressing girls openly with your eyes, you're a perv," a Jeff said as he pushed away from the table and stood up to walk away from the gossip.

"Hey, Allie hasn't said a thing, so before you shoot your mouth off-" Paige said still staring when Allie cut her off, "I'm gonna go check on loose throttle," she said before taking off from the cafeteria as Bradin spotted her and started to make his way across the room.

"You can't avoid him forever, you know?" Kati's voice of reason sounded on the other end of the line on the cell as Allie sat outside the hospital in the drizzling rain, getting soaked.

"Well, not forever, I mean he will die you know, eventually," Allie argued, "I mean he could have cancer, a tumor in his heart, I mean who's gonna operate on him here? No one! And he'll die, he'll die and yeah, I won't need to avoid him anymo-" she rambled on and on till her beeper went off cutting her off. "Hey, I've to go, call you later, and don't forget your date with Cassidy tonight," she reminded before snapping her cell shut and sprinting back into the hospital.

When she reached the patient's room, Nathan Alexander was perfectly fine But her resident Dr. Barrish however was not.

"You were suppose to be here an hour ago, to prep Dr. Alexander for his surgery, where the hell were you?"

"I'm not gonna be liking this conversation will I?" she asked as her resident continued to glare at her, "Don't play coy with me, kid," her angry resident snapped.

"Okay, interns are busy right, and we're the bottom of the surgical food chain, like you said, we do everything ergo we're busy, and I.." she started rambling before slowing down, "Was nowhere near being busy, I forgot," she answered in all honesty, being pre-occupied with the bomb of the Cardiology head of Lennox Hill being Bradin and all.

"For.. You forgot?" the petite blonde shook her head, "Well, you can forget about scrubbing in," she said and slammed the chart into Allie's chest before exiting the room. At least she wouldn't be spending any more unwanted time with Bradin, Allie figured, she assumed it to be a blessing in disguise, as for now, she'd just gladly dodge him whenever she sees him.

"We'll be able to maintain your pacemaker from anywhere just as long as you get yourself to a phone line every once in six months," she said, placing down the chart on the table.

"Or better yet you could join me in one of my clinics," he replied charismatically with the charming smile he had.

"I'm kinda spoilt," she replied.

"Well, we'll get you a room with a view, you like the sea?"

"I meant medically, no fancy tests, no cutting in with anesthetics,"

"You're smart, you'll adapt, you might even find that without the technological crutches you'll be a better doctor than you'll ever be," he continued, "When you meet these people it changes you, we should talk about this over dinner,"

"You asking me to Africa or you asking me on a date?" she questioned.

"What? I can ask you halfway round the world I can't ask you to a restaurant a block away?"

"Let's fix you up first shall we?"

"Is that a maybe?" he questioned instead, referring to her undefinitive answer.

"That's a I should concentrate on prepping you for a surgery to save your life," she quipped as she pushed his gurney out of the room toward the elevator to head toward the Operating Room.

A few nurses took over pushing Nathan to the surgical floor and Allie turned around to see Bradin before she turned around again to run away from him, Again.

"Allie!" he called out and grabbed her shoulder.

"Dr. Westerly," she replied well-manneredly, pulling her arm away from him and placing her hands in the pocket of her coat.

"Dr. Wes.. Allie, I think we need to talk," he said ushering her into the stairwell.

"No, we don't," she shook her head taking a step away from him.

"You can't avoid me forever you know,"

"Why does everybody keep saying that?" she asked, frustrated as she unwillingly got pulled into the stairwell.

"Maybe because it's true?" he offered good-humoredly.

"No, it's not, you'll die, eventually, and I'll be fan-freaking-tastic,"

"Allie!"

"Dr. Westerly, you have a surgery, right now, and there is nothing for us to discuss, you're an attending, I'm an intern, the past doesn't matter and we should keep this strictly professional," she stated and walked out of the stairwell, her heart racing, but she didn't allow for it to show, he had that effect on her, still being outrageously good-looking, more mature, blonde hair darker, emerald green eyes deeper, face more worldly but still the same as ever.

The rest of her shift passed by in pretty much a daze, 48 hours was a long time, but it's pretty short when you're mind is buzzing and full with thoughts. Her mind flitted from the last time she saw Bradin, hair mussed up, in his boxers, to the last perfect moment they had together before the unfortunate break up during brunch and well, other things. Memories flowed seamlessly in her mind, the pain she suffered then, the things that came to pass since then, all of the things she'd pushed far from mind came flooding back in that 48 hours, and at the end of it, she ended up in Nathan's room again, doing post op rounds as instructed by her dictator of a resident.

"All fixed up?" she asked the handsome doctor picking up his chart and leafing through the pages checking for anything that may be significant, post-up for a patient was vital, and she knew that, "Heart beating regularly?"

"Yeah," he replied with a chuckle as she carried on to checking his heart rate on the monitor, blood pressure and Iv medications, "So you gonna join me? I could still get that hut," he teased.

"Nathan, I'm just an intern, I-" she started.

"Maybe I need an apprentice,"

"You'll find another one," Allie quipped.

"So you turning me down?" he asked, probing.

There was a long pause as she contemplated his request. Among the things that pre-occupied her mind for the past 48 hours, this was one of them. In the short few hours she knew him, she found that he was charming, with a great mind, and he was obviously compassionate and cared for the world, not to mention that he was a heck of a doctor too, doing her internship under him, in Africa nonetheless, would be a great opportunity. And the fact that he was extremely good looking and very interested in her was a plus too. She exhaled.

"I guess I am, yeah,"

"There are some things that I just can't let go off, not yet," she explained.

_A/N Random abrupt end, I know, but hey, it's my style, and besides, it gives you something to mull over till the next one right? Haha.. Anyway, as per always, reviews are loved and adored, plus they get me motivated to get off my fat arse to get on with the next chapter so if you want the chapters to keep coming, you know what to do.._

_So anyway, this one tells you that I've propelled many years into the future and I know, I know, the math doesn't compute, it takes more than 10 years to be a hot shot specialist surgeon, but for the sake of this story, entertain me, close a blind eye or something, cause I wanted them to be older, but not like ancient, so late 20's was a good age for that you know, they're supposed to be adults but they're hovering between being not fully developed as adults but needing to be acting like actual adults so yeah.. Okay, anyway, I'm rambling, again, wokay.. I'm just gonna go.._

_And yes, it's a little bit boring, I know, but it gets better, I promise, so hang in there! Okay, I think that's it, I'm really Really gonna go now.. _

_xOxO _

_mAnomaly.._


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Thanks angel-prncess-18 and ShiaLover09 for reviewing, appreciate it, love you guys!!_

_JustTheGirl07: Thanks for your review, yet again, love your constructive reviews, yeah, I did plan on adding in flashbacks of Chemicals React, new and old alike, and yes, many many drama ahead, but the interns should be the least of your worries actually, haha, a bit of a teaser for you there. xD_

_And yes, fellow readers, I realize that I'm lacking in a little luster here, but worry not, I say, cause there'll be drama, and there'll be drama soon, so hang in there, bear with me and forgive me for the - as of now - dull-ness, don't know what's gotten into me really, like my muses went on strike or something, but I do have this planned out so I know exactly what will happen and how and all, so I won't be running into any walls or anything and keep you guys waiting and waiting and waiting on like months at a time hiatuses, but I digress, what I mean to say is, it'll all get interesting, soon, with drama ahead.._

_Dun dun dun. Haha, well, what can I say, gotta love the drama right.. Haha, okay, so enjoy chapter 4, sort off a long one ahead, sort off.. Enjoy fellow readers.._

**Collide**

Aaliyah was curled up into a fetal position under the sheets of her large comfortable king sized bed, she had been falling in and out of fitful sleep with the raindrops pounding on the roof all night and it was still dark out when she woke, beads of rain still steadily falling with a steady 'Plop! Plop! Plop!' against the windows. She glanced at the clock on her bedside, in the semi-darkness, she made out the time, 7.27.

'And another day begins,' the dark blonde male said to himself as he awoke with the rain pounding on his window. He glanced out the window and the first thought that came to mind was Aaliyah, he shouldn't be thinking of her but it's not something that could be helped. And then his mind flashed back to the day where he received Jace's call asking him for a favor, to transfer over to Lennox Hill.

_The ER was bustling with activity, 'When had it never?' he wondered. But he was a cardiothoracic surgeon and to be called down to the emergency room for a Multiple Vehicle Collision meant that it was one heck of a collision, and it was. _

_And then she came in, a little girl, so frail, so delicate, with abrasions on her arms and face. "Hi.." he said leaning in, "Hey, what's your name?" he asked softly, as they hurried the little girl to an empty trauma room._

_"Olivia," she whispered._

_"Olivia, hi, I'm Dr. Westerly, okay, and we're gonna fix you all up, okay, and you're gonna be fine," he assured as he pulled on the latex gloves._

_"Okay, now Olivia, I need you to squeeze my fingers," he asked placing his fingers into her hand._

_"I can't," she sobbed._

_It was a clot, surgical, his turf, though not exactly, being a cardio specialist, but still. He operated, and she crashed during surgery. Hours later, after his shift, he sat on the floor of the store room outside the Operating Room with his head in his arms, in the dark, alone. He was able to keep his calm through his shift but the aftermath always hit like a volcano erupting. His emotions would take over and he'd brood angrily._

_The door creaked open, and a figure was cast over him, a figure leaning on the doorway._

_"Bradin, why do you do this?" a soft voice sliced through the silence._

_"I promised her she'd be okay," he said looking up at Jenny, the tall blonde beautiful doctor at the hospital, who also happened to have assisted during the surgery. _

_"You can't save them all you know,"_

_"I made her a promise!" he said standing up, glaring into her emerald green eyes with his._

_"And you did everything you could, she just crashed, we couldn't have predicted that massive hemorrhaging," she tried reasoning with him, consoling him, and for a while it worked._

_"Why do you always do this?" she asked._

_"Do what, Jenny?" he asked, lashing out at her, anger rising in him again. She of all people should understand, she who in the entire hospital knew him best._

_"This! Blame yourself whenever you lose one of them,"_

_"You of all people should know, Jen," he bellowed at her, but she didn't shrink away as most people would have. She was one of those few people who could put up with his rage and wasn't afraid to stand her ground against him._

_"Well, I don't, okay? I don't know why you do this, why you blame yourself and take it all so personally, when you did everything you could, you always do, but you always blame yourself too and I don't get it,"_

_"Well, if you don't then you just don't," he said coldly walking out of the room leaving her alone in the store room, dumbfounded by his words._

_The apartment was dark when he reached home. Being a doctor had always been a dream, and came with its ups and downs. Sure being a hot shot surgeon had it perks, the hefty pay check paid nimbly for the apartment, and he was cleared of his heavy student loan in no time, but it was always hard on him when someone died. Bradin had never had been one who could deal with death easily. When his parents died he hadn't really had time to mourn. He'd had to become the comforter to his brother and sister, and had to put his own sadness on hold so that he could help them cope with theirs. _

_He pulled out a beer from the fridge and played his messages from the house phone, sitting down in the darkness on the couch. The mail sat there in front of him on the coffee table, looking bleak and boring. He ignored it and took another swig from the bottle in his hand, hardly paying any attention to the messages either, but one jumped out at him. A familiar voice._

_"Bradin, hey, this is Jace, I'm a little shorthanded here, my cardio guy's retiring, so come on, come out here and help out an old professor? Give me a call,"_

_He placed down the bottle of beer and replayed the message. He bit his lip as he considered the possibility. The next thing he knew, he'd packed and took the next plane out to New York._

Had he made the right decision? Uprooting himself from everything he'd known, just walking away like that? Bumping back into Aaliyah was not something he'd expected, not after so many years, not after attending John Hopkin's for 4 years and not even once catching a glance of anyone resembling her, even when he knew it was her life long dream to study medicine there. He'd done well in convincing himself he'd let go. Or had he actually? Was it really just a favor for an old professor that brought him out to New York, or was it something else? The small glimmer of hope that he'd held onto, wishing and hoping against hope, that he would maybe see her again.

'Damn it, Bradin!' he thought to himself, not for the first time since he recognized her in the hospital room. 'Why was it always this confusing when it came to Allie?' he wondered. He couldn't believe it when he'd seen her in the hospital, and he had inwardly cursed himself for not knowing what to say, what to do, after having imagined it millions of times over in his head. The clock beside him beeped and reluctantly, he pushed the covers over his body and he padded his way to the bathroom.

Aaliyah turned on the hot water of the tap and stood there in front of the mirror gazing into it with a blank look on her face. Dressed in a black cotton tank top and pajama pants, she just stood there in front of the mirror while images flashed in her mind. It replayed in her head like a fast forward slide show. She shook her head and splashed the hot water on her face. The surgical program would make her career and she needed to be at the top of her game, she needed to focus, despite the issues thrown into her life.

"And you noticed her foot twitching when?" Aaliyah asked as she felt the bone and cartilage of the little girl's left foot in front of her.

"A few months ago," the mother answered immediately, "3 maybe 4," she offered.

"We took her to a hospital and they did a CT which showed her.." the father interjected but Aaliyah continued his sentence for him, "brain abnormality?" she continued his sentence for him, looking up at them.

"Yeah, and the twitching got a lot worse," the mother continued.

"This isn't lipstick," the little girl interjected playing with the thin flash light she pulled out of Aaliyah's coat pocket.

"No, it's not lip stick," she chuckled, "It's a flash light, see, flash light," Allie commented switching it on and flashing the light around.

"You're a giant," the 7 year old giggled. Which was true to an extent, the little girl, Isabelle, was tiny, and her parents looked a little vertically challenged too.

"Mmm hmm, and you're a princess," she commented, pinching the bridge of Isabelle's nose slightly.

"Thank you," she replied sweetly.

"Uhm.. We're gonna get another CT and MRI and find out what's causing the seizures, is that okay?" Allie asked for the parent's approval.

"But, we brought her CT scan from the other hospital," the mother commented, passing the films to Allie.

"Her brain could look drastically different today Mrs. Rice, I'm just making sure we cover all our basses,"

"Doctor, will she be needing surgery?" the father asked, sounding concerned and worried.

"I don't know yet, Mr. Rice, but.." Aaliyah started saying when she noticed Isabelle's leg started twitching uncontrollably.

"What's happening?"

"It's a seizure, Diazepam 5mill," Allie suggested to the nurse in the room, "Diazepam, 5 mill," the nurse responded, handing her the small syringe to Aaliyah as she gloved up.

"Okay, Izzie, we're going to put this on your arm, okay, it's gonna be a little cold, and it's gonna prick, just a little bit," she told the little girl as she injected the needle into her arm and pushed the clear liquid into her system, "Okay, now I'm gonna take it out, and.. there," she said pulling out the needle as she noticed her leg had stopped seizing.

"Okay, so uhm.. We'll get the tests done, and I'll let you know if we find anything,"

"Okay, thank you, Doctor,"

Aaliyah exited the room and handed the chart to the nurse's station before proceeding to report to her resident. Half of her morning was spent in the walk in clinic, on the hospital's ground floor, classic, flu's, colds and so forth, those she could deal with, but this, this had her anxious. She was a doctor, yeah, she'd gone through 4 years of medical school, she had the certs, and she was top of her class, but she had no idea what she was doing and she was petrified, horrified that she may be doing the wrong thing, thinking the wrong thing, having the wrong idea, and found herself in desperate need for an output, if only she could find her damned resident! Or an attending, or any other person she could run it by, any other residents, but instead she bumped into Bradin.

"Crap!" was the first thing out of her mouth.

"Crap?!" he asked. They weren't on fantastic terms yeah, but 'Crap!' ebing the first words out of her mouth at the sight of him, not exactly the reaction he'd been expecting, but then again, he didn't even know what he expected from Allie, not anymore.

"I'm looking for my resident," she explained, "I've a patient in the clinic, she has continuous left foot seizures, but I don't know if I'm doing the right thing and Dr. Summers left for his 2 weeks leave and there's a whole line more of patients in the clinic and I need output and I can't find my resident," she stated in short burst, a little punchy as for she hadn't been getting much sleep lately, between having so much on her mind, keeping on top of her game as a surgical intern and other things she had going on in her life, "Or any other resident for that matter, or an attending so I could be killing my patient with useless tests so yeah, Crap!"

"Did you order for an MRI?" he asked, crossing his arms across his chest, concerned, more than a doctor for a patient, more than an attending for an intern, more.

"And a CT scan," she added after nodding.

"Then, you're doing alright,"

She nodded again.

"Check that they're free first, if not, make a booking," he advised.

More nodding.

"And you're a surgical intern, surgical patients are your priority, clock out at the clinic, bring the patient to the exams yourself,"

Another nod.

"Okay.. Uhmm.. Thank you, Dr. Westerly," she said with more politeness than she intended before turning around to head back to the clinic.

"Seriously, Allie?" he asked, exasperated, "Dr. Westerly?"

Aaliyah sighed and turned around to face him yet again, "We broke up," she started.

"Just at least let me-"

"10 years ago," she cut him off ploughing on.

"You just.. Poof. You left, I.. You didn't even give a notice," he exclaimed, cutting her off instead.

"Bradin, why d'you have go pick on a 10 year old scab? It's over, we're not 17 anymore, we haven't spoken since I left, you're an attending where I work now and I'm an intern, so let's keep it at that, you're the attending, I'm the intern, let's not mingle unless it's plainly for a professional purpose, okay?"

"Fine!" he replied agitated. He almost forgot how frustrating it was trying to keep up a conversation with her, especially with her being annoyed with you.

"Fine!" she mimicked his tone.

"Fine!"

And with that, she turned around and headed back for the clinic, and Bradin watched her go.

_A/N It didn't feel great really, I wasn't too sure how to write the interactions between the 2 of them so I'd really love some input, did it feel awkward, their interaction? Should it be feeling awkward? It should right? Given their situation. I mean it should be like 2 people not knowing how to act and react, and I'm not sure if that went right.._

_But at any rate, I can assure you there'll be more drama ahead.. Please don't give up on me yet.._

_Anyhow.. Review please, let me know what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like, Thank you.._


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N 6Ellie6 : Haha thanks, sorry this wasn't exactly asap, but you know, stupid comp woes again.. Haih.._

_JustTheGirl07 : Yea, I absolutely agree, I hope I didn't make it look as though he was pining though. Love your input and feedback, it's always nice to read what you've to say.. _

_angel-prcess-18 : Thanks, I'll definitely try to up the drama, so watch out for it.._

_ShiaLover09 : Glad you're liking it, thanks for the review, and the drama will come, so don't worry, all in good time my friend.._

_Oh and.. Not much Bradin here, but a little bit of what I call 'the lost years' will be revealed here, well, for Allie that is, the unpenned period of time between now and Chemicals React. Filler-ish honestly, but I'm double posting, the next one should be about loaded once you're finished with this.._

**Collide**

"Ugh.. Can you please not look at me like that?" Allie groaned at her fellow interns who were looking at her with raised eyebrows as she joined their table at the cafeteria.

"Hey, I'm not looking at you like anything, but I gotta say, you look like crap," Cooper stated, as he chomped on the last bites of his salad.

"Nice, thanks.. Really.. Every girl wishes a guy would tell her she looks like crap first thing in the morning,"

"I live to please," he said graciously.

"Oh, fuck off Cooper," Allie snapped as she sat down.

"Whoa, someone's feisty this morning," Ned stated as he too joined them.

"I'm a little punchy, I haven't slept al night, so sue me," she snapped at the newcomer.

"Oh.. You been a bad girl, Allie?" Ned teased biting into his bagel.

"Yeah, like I've any time with this job to have a sex life," she said referring to their internship. She'd pulled an all nighter, studying and then she came in early to check up on a patient who was going in for surgery, a surgery she was assisting in that day, so as opposed to her interns who had a good night's sleep, she had none.

"Ah, must be the thought of me again, huh?" he retorted instead, "But really, who wouldn't want a piece of this?"

"Yes, because really, who doesn't want to fantasize about the guy who spends most of his waking hours thinking up dirty pick up lines, and throwing them at anything that moves?" Allie snapped at the rudest, most arrogant, dirtiest yet most devilishly handsome intern of the batch.

"Touché," Cooper replied as Ned sat there mouth agape half filled with bagel.

"Well, at least I'm gonna have one heck of a kick ass surgery to get me through today," Allie mocked her fellow interns, biting into her sandwich, thinking of the little girl who was about to have half her brain cut out.

_"It's called Rasmussen's encephalitis," Barrish stated to the parents._

_"It basically means that this part of her brain is working," Allie picked up from there, explaining to the clearly confused parents, "And this isn't," she continued, pointing to the scan of Isabelle Rice's brain, "It's either dead or dying,"_

_"It didn't look like that in the other scan," the father insisted._

_"Her condition seemed to have gotten radically worse, and if we don't do anything at this point, the disease will kill her," Barrish explained._

_"What can we do then?" the mother asked, tearing up, looking away from the scan of her daughter's brain, afraid what's being told._

_"What we can do is, remove the diseased part of her brain, and seal it off, in time, spinal fluid will fill the cavity," Barrish continued._

_"Remove half her brain?" the mother asked, shocked at the option._

_"Her age makes it possible," Allie quickly replied, "As her brain's not fully developed yet, the remaining neurons will compensate for the removed part in time, and she will go on to live a relatively normal life,"_

_"So she can survive this?" the father probed._

_"There are risks in all surgeries and this is a major one," Barrish answered quickly, as she and all surgeons are trained too._

_"But you can fix her," the father pushed harder for an answer._

_"Mr. Mrs. Rice, I assure you, you are in good hands, we have Dr. Connor coming in to perform the hemispherectomy and.."_

_"Michael Connor?" Allie asked, alarmed, cutting in on her resident's sentence._

"That was such a high," she stated eagerly, exiting the operating room with the tall rugged man in scrubs next to her, "Really, I just, don't get why anyone would do drugs," she said to the not so unfamiliar male next to her with brown hair and eyes, "Thank you, really, for letting me in on that, I mean, that was just.. Such a rush," she went on breathlessly.

"Well, let me warn you," one Dr. Michael Connor stated in his English accent she'd grown accustomed to those years ago, "The high.. It doesn't last,"

"Well, it feels pretty damned good right now," she said in a sing song voice.

"Well, I could help you keep the high, go out with me tonight," he suggested abruptly.

"What?" she asked, stopping in her tracks.

"You know, you put on a pretty dress, I pay for food, try to get you drunk," Connor explained, swerving around to stand in front of her, facing her with a smirk on his face.

"Connor, you can't ask me out," she stated.

"Why not?"

"Because, I haven't seen you since.." she trailed off thinking.

"Davidson's graduation party?" the good looking English doctor offered.

"I haven't seen you since Davidson's graduation party," she said, "I don't know anything about you since Brown," she tried to reason with her senior from her college days.

"Uh.. I believe that's why people date? You know, get to know each other, talk and.." he teased but got cut off again.

"I know what dates are, and I'm not going on one with you," she said finally before walking away from him.

"Uu la la.." Paige stated as Allie walked away from him to enter the locker room where Paige was taking a break and lying on the bench stool.

"What?" she asked.

"One, hemispherectomy, so.. Hot! Two, so was the neuro guy, come on, you are getting all the good surgeries with the bestest, good looking-est doctors," Paige stated, not in a envious way but more of a teasing way.

"Paige!"

"I mean, first the Chief of Surgery in that Cabg, and then the hot neurosurgeon here on special request from Chief of Surgery for a hemispherectomy, girl you're on fire,"

"Wait, good looking-est?" Allie asked, ignoring her latter statement, what the red head said before finally sinking in.

"Come on, Jace? Totally foxy! Micheal Connor? Ho-o-ot!"

"You want their numbers?" Allie asked lying down on a bench next to her.

"You have their numbers?!" Paige asked sitting up, eyes nearly bulging out.

"Jace is my ex-step-father and Connor was my senior in Brown, so you want their digits or what?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrow at the red head next to her.

"Oh, no wonder the special treatment.. I mean come on, you're not that good a doctor," Paige teased, lying down again.

"Screw you, I'm fantastic!" she jokingly said self-pompously and the two girls laughed. Their moment of rest of course did not last, it wasn't long till their resident found the air of loafing intern in the locker room and assigned different tasks to them in a heartbeat.

"How bout Tuesday night then?" Connor asked, leaning on one elbow on the counter as Allie read the charts of the post op patients she was assigned to by the iron-rod ruling resident.

"Don't you have friends to hang out with?" she asked.

"I'm a neurosurgeon," he stated charming as always, "I don't have friends,"

"With a face like that no wonder," she quipped.

"You love this face," was what he came back with, "You went out with this face, you slept with this face," he added in a low tone, attempting to push her buttons.

"That was a long time ago, Connor,"

"Why don't you ever call me by my first name?" he asked instead.

"I call you Michael all the time, Connor," she said with a smile and mentally hit herself, she was flirting with him even when she didn't mean to. Her life was complicated enough as of right now, she didn't need to add anymore drama to it, not that she could help it.

"You see, we're flirting, not that this isn't good, but we need to stop flirting,"

"Yes we do," she replied, agreeing with him for once.

"And carry on to going out,"

"Connor!"

"Come on, what could one date hurt?" he pleaded.

"A lot," she quipped back, "Go sexually harass another intern,"

And with that Allie walked away from the good looking neurosurgeon and into the good looking cardiothoracic surgeon instead.

"Hello least favorite person of mine in this whole entire place," she stated with a smile.

"That's a step up from 'Crap!'" Bradin stated, wondering what got into Allie. She'd been speaking to him only when she was required to and during those few short encounters, she was indifferent and precisely professional, opposite of the now seemingly bubbly her, a side of which he'd not seen in years, and those days was a result of having being fed too much chocolate, sugar or both.

"It is, isn't it? Hmm.." she shrugged, smiling pleasantly. Surgery was a great mood elevator, especially a hardcore brain surgery, she supposed it was the adrenaline and the endorphins it fed to your brain, but nonetheless, she was in high spirits and even bumping into the person she'd like to avoid the most couldn't take it away.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with the Aaliyah Lennox-Montgomery?" he voiced his thoughts.

"It's just Aaliyah Montgomery now, I had it changed and she decided it'd be nice to harmoniously and professionally co-exist with an attending who could make her surgical internship hell on earth," she said pleasantly, "Nice talking to you Dr. Westerly," she added with a smile before walking off with her hand full of charts and Bradin laughed to himself silently as he watched her walking off with a bounce in her step, hair swishing behind her in the ponytail.

'Harmoniously?' he wondered with a smile, there was nothing harmonious or professional in greeting someone by calling them the least favorite person in a hospital now, was there?

_A/N Hahaha.. Kinda cute, no? _

_Anyway, review please, thank you._

_Zomg, I've nothing else to say.. That's a first.. ._


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Long chapter ahead, not my best work, but as an incentive and compensation, let me tell you that there's a surprise at the end.. Haha, this one was supposed to be shorter, as a cliffie, but I decided to be nice and not leave you guys hanging.. Haha, so read on for it, yeah, no skipping allowed.. uh uh.. shakes head.. haha.. xD_

_Okay, I'll let you get to it, it's pretty lengthy.._

**Collide**

Aaliyah was walking balancing her cup of coffee and several charts with her hands when she yawned, closing her eyes just for a moment, walking into Bradin who was too busy reading a file recently assigned to him to notice them colliding.

"Ow! Damn it!" Allie cursed spilling the scalding coffee all down her front.

"Great job walking," she snapped looking up to realize it was Bradin.

"You always this persnickety in the morning?" he asked humored by her grumpiness.

She chuckled slightly, bending over to pick up the charts, "You should see me after pulling an all night shift though, those times I'm persniketier," she said from the floor, "Oh wait, that's right now," she quipped while getting up and handing him the file he dropped, which was luckily not drenched in coffee. What was drenched however was Allie.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" he asked taking the file.

"A couple of nods," Allie replied, assess the damage on her scrubs, placing the "Well at least it's the end of my shift," she said to herself, placing the charts on the counter for the nurse.

"Ah.. So big Saturday off, you got plans?" he asked.

"I don't know, Rent a movie.. Get some take out.. Something.? I don't know.." she answered absentmindedly lifting the scrubs over her head, scrunching it into a ball of fabric to assess the damage on the long sleeved top within. It was dark so the stain wasn't too obvious, but she could feel the wet fabric pressing onto her skin.

"Wow," Bradin replied, placing the file onto the counter and leaning on it.

"What?" she asked, looking upward to face Bradin.

"You are officially Lennox Hill's most boring intern,"

"Did I mention the movie might be PG-13?" Allie retorted cheekily almost without processing the words before they came out, so just as Bradin opened his mouth for a reply Allie didn't let him, "You know what, we.. Don't have to do this, you know, you entertain me, pretend you care, I.. I'm just gonna go," she backing away from him. However, Bradin caught her elbow in his hand and pulled her away from the nurse's counter, far from the eager ears and prying noses.

"When are you ever going to just let it go stop hating me?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest, voicing out something that had been bugging him for a while.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied blankly before trying to walk away again but again he caught her.

"Look, I've tried apologizing, I've tried explaining, but you don't want to hear it, you want none of that, and you give me all the crap about co-existing harmoniously and professionally when we just clearly can't, not when we work over the damned issues we have, so just tell me okay? Tell me! When will you just let it go and stop punishing me already?" he whispered angrily at her, she looked away sometime in between the rant before looking back up at him when he ended the little tantrum.

Bradin had not been like that for a while, he was a top notch cardiothoracic specialist, a wonder surgeon, calm and together, yeah, there was that downward slum once in a while in losing a patient but he'd never been so severely bothered by anything in a while, because in the 10 years Aaliyah and Bradin spent apart, there had been a vital part of his life that had been missing, and accepting the possibility that he'd never see her again, he'd filed it with studying and work and other people and other things, seeing her again suddenly snapped him back to focus and he realized how empty and meaningless it all was and her cruel indifference about him as anything other than a surgeon, an attending, bothered him very much.

"When?" Aaliyah asked back venomously, "When I stop remembering that you proclaimed our love to be epic! When I stop having images in my head of you and Callie naked playing hide my.." she let her voice trail off as she took a breathe before giving the painful answer, "When it stops hurting, because it's been 10 years and it still hurts, it hurts because you made me fall for you when I never wanted to fall and you went and did that, I don't want to hate you, but I do, so I'll stop when I stop,"

And with that she walked away from him yet again, making her way to the locker room for a change of clothes before heading home.

But on her way, she passed a patient's room where she could hear voices from one of the rooms. She glanced at the room number, it was room 3601, one Danny Holt, a leukemia patient who was arranged for bone marrow transplant under Jace and the hospital's oncologist specialist. Allie was the intern in on the case but it wasn't the reason why she felt so strongly about it, earlier that day when they had told him of his options, Danny stated that he needed more time to think it over, whether or not to take his brother's marrow, his 12 year old brother's marrow, the only match they could find, and it seemed now, he had made up his mind.

"No, no surgery," she heard the young man say as she entered the room.

"Mr. Holt.." Jace started but he cut him off.

"Gordon's only 12, I'm not taking his marrow," Danny insisted, not agreeing to accept marrow from his younger brother.

"Mr. Holt, he's a match for you, and he's agreed to this, all we need is your consent as you are his legal guardian,"

"He's just a kid, he doesn't understand the consequences,"

"Mr. Holt, I assure you barring complications, he will not be influenced in any way,"

"It's surgery!" Danny called back loudly, "I won't ask him to do that, not for me,"

"Mr. Holt," Allie said, voicing out from the doorway, "Gordon wants to do this, and chances are to find a match for you who is willing to donate his marrow is close to nil,"

"When my parents died, I promised them I'd take care of him,"

"And if you don't take his marrow, you'll get sicker and sicker," Allie explained, "Social services will have to take him away from you, is that what you want?"

"I'm 18!" he shouted back emotionally, "Maybe he will be better off with social services,"

"Mr. Holt-" Allie tried to argue back when Jace pulled her out of the room.

"Aaliyah, what are you doing?" he asked.

"If he doesn't take the marrow he'll die, and Gordon will be placed in some home where he'll be unhappy and.." she started but the chief of surgery cut her off.

"You're getting to attached to this patient, and if you want to be a surgeon, that is one thing you cannot do, Aaliyah,"

"I'm not getting.."

"Allie.." he said warningly.

"I'm not!" she insisted stubbornly.

"You cannot get attached to patients, you cannot let your personal feelings get in the way," the chief of surgery advised the intern whom he cared for beyond a teacher for a student, but with an affection of a father for a daughter.

"You think I'm not being objective?" she challenged hot headedly.

"I think you're letting the situation dictate.." Jace began but she cut him off this time.

"The situation is that he will die unless he takes his brother's marrow, he's being a moron!" she stated impulsively.

"The fact is, he wants to protect his brother, let him,"

"The fact is," she snapped, mimicking his tone, "The only way he will be able to protect his brother is by taking his marrow and raising him instead of letting social services take him and place him in some home,"

"Allie!" he almost yelled at the intern before him.

"He's not interested in protecting anybody, he wants to protect himself, he'd 18 and he has to play daddy, this is his out, he thinks he can con his way out of this cause he's sick, but the truth is, he can't, he doesn't know it yet, but he. Can't," she argued.

"You're off this one," he ordered stoically and firmly, realizing just how personally attached she was to this one patient and how she shouldn't be, whatever the circumstances were, "Starting your next shift, you'll be working on Mr. Donohue with Dr. Westerly, I'll inform Dr. Barrish," he ordered before walking away from the disgruntled Aaliyah in her coffee stained shirt.

Her fellow interns were at the locker room, preparing themselves for a good nights rest, preparing themselves for the battle of the next shift but Allie decided she might as well clean herself in the hospital first before heading home said her goodbye's to her friends and headed for the pit stop before home.

After the hot comfortable shower, clean and nice smelling, suitable for human companionship, Allie was in the locker room, packing her things. She slammed her locker shut and turned around, ready to leave when there was a figure standing in her way, leaning against the locker room doorway, with a smile on his face.

"Connor, hey, what are you.. How long have you been standing there?" she asked, changing questions in mid sentence.

"For a while," he replied smoothly with his accent.

"What are you doing here? I thought you're flight back to Rhode Island was this morning?" she asked.

"I had a meeting with Jace,"

"You had a meeting with the chief?" Allie asked, just in case she heard him wrong.

"Yeah, he made me an offer, wanted to discuss the details," Connor explained.

"Don't," was all Allie could say.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Don't take it,"

"Why not?"

"Give me one good reason why you'd even consider taking the offer,"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," he challenged instead, evading the question.

"Better, I can give you 5,"

"5 reasons?" he asked, skeptical.

"Because you hate New York," she started, "And you hate teaching, and because Jace can't possibly top your salary or benefits, and because you have a life back in Rode Island, so you give me one good reason why you're even thinking about it," she listed.

"You said 5 that was only 4," Connor answered evasively.

"I.. Pulled a number out of the air, and don't avoid the question, give me a reason," Allie insisted.

"Why can't the reason be you?"

"Because.."

"Who did what to you when that you just can't let people in?"

"I don't not let people in," Aaliyah contradicted his statement stubbornly and he raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, I do do that a little bit," she started before correcting herself, "Okay, I do that a lot, but it's just, best that way,"

"When I find that SOB who broke your heart this badly that I can't even get a shot at a relationship with you, twice, I'm gonna kill him," Connor stated jokingly and Allie chuckled before replying.

"I'll see you when I see you, Connor,"

"Very Davidson's graduation party," he commented as Allie gave him a hug.

Once he'd left, Allie made her way toward the elevator, headed for home. On the way, however, she passed room 3601, and in the dark, she made out the form of the patient stirring. Allie leaned on the doorway for a moment, before deciding to make her presence known.

"You'll take him back," she said to Danny as he awoke from his shallow sleep.

"What?" he asked blearily.

"You'll take him back," Allie repeated herself as the patient stared at her incredulously.

"No, I'm not," he insisted.

"You will. You'll let them take your brother away from you now, but because you love him you'll visit him all that you can, everyday if you can find the time, and in a month, maybe 2, half a years time, you'll take his marrow and you'll take him back," she insisted.

"Why would I do that?" he asked stubbornly.

"Because you love him. Because each time you visit, it'll get harder and harder for you to say goodbye and then you'll decide that you can't say goodbye anymore and you'll take him back no matter how much things will suck, no matter how difficult things will be. You'll take him back," she answered surely.

"And how do you know that? What makes you so damned sure?" he demanded.

"Because I was you," Allie answered, letting her statement hang in the air before turning around and letting him ponder her words and think over his decision.

When she reached the exit, Allie spotted another figure who was making his way home as well after a shift and the voices of an earlier argument ran through Allie's head

_"When are you ever just going to let it go and stop hating me?"_

_"I don't want to hate you, but I do,"_

Now that she was calmer, cooled down, she realized that she had to fix it, whatever it was she'd done, the things she said, half out it out of rage and the anger she held for herself, and the fact was, she had to face the ghosts of her past sometime, cause that's just the things with ghosts, they stay and linger around and they don't leave until they're at peace with what they've left undone, and this was one thing she'd left undone.

So she went after him and in the deserted parking space, she called out to him.

"I don't hate you,"

He turned around to look at her and silence sat between them for a moment.

"I.. run away at the face of things that I can't face, I ran away from New York, I ran away from Playa Linda, it's.. It's what I do, and.. It was hard letting you go," Allie started.

"It was hard losing you and it was hard seeing you again, and it's still just.. So hard.. And hating you makes it easier, punishing you makes it easier, but I don't, Bradin," she said, taking a breath before continuing, "I don't hate you,"

Again, silence.

"I have this dream," Bradin said finally, "I had this dream every day for years, we were back in that party and I told you our love was epic, and every time I stop you from walking away,"

"Well, that's just that isn't it? A dream?"

"It's my dream," he stated.

"The thing is, Bradin, we're not 18 anymore, and we can't go back, however hard we want to, we just can't, things change, people change," Allie said, "We've changed,"

"So what now?" he asked.

"I don't know," Aaliyah replied after a moment's deliberation and they went their separate ways yet again, headed for their individual homes, with plenty of things to individually mull over. Allie certainly did, she didn't even notice her journey home, the elevator 'ding' snapped her out of her daze and she realized she was home.

Aaliyah tossed her keys into the bowl and took off her jacket tossing it onto the couch alongside her bag before a brunette tornado flew down the spiral stairs hit her, "Oof.! Hey, honey," she said chuckling, "You been good?" she asked the raven haired girl as she scooped her up.

_A/N Dun dun dun.! cackles evilly.. Not my best work, but its sufficient yes? And the surprise finish at the end was not expected and definitely compensated for the crabbiness of the rest of the chap, si? Haha.. _

_Sorry if this seems a little bit off somehow, cause me family went on holiday and sharing a room with my sister is not helping with my writing, the annoying sibling thing, and the authors paranoia that someone's peering over my shoulder's gotten me uncomfortable, but this didn't turn out too bad, I hope.._

_So anyway, tell me your predictions, your thoughts, or massacre me in your review, whichever you like, I'm not picky really.. Haha.. _

_xOxO_

_mAnomaly_


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Thanks for the reviews, 6Ellie6, JustTheGirl07, HistoryNerd, angel-princss-18-, ShiaLover09._

_I totally overestimated myself.. Writing them as doctors required a whole lot more research and thinking and thinking and thinking and more thinking (sigh..) than I expected to have to do in like, my whole entire life, and to have to have the patients conditions relate to them, gosh, I must have been out of my mind.. Meh.. Anyway, apart from the fact that more needs to be taken into consideration when writing these stuff, my summer job's started, so updates might be a little late, but don't worry, I won't flake out or leave it hanging, well, I might, but only a few days at a time, but I definitely won't be discontinue-ing this, so yeah.._

_Anyway, here we go with the next one, but let me say this first, the 'raven haired girl' will not be given much elaboration here.. Knew you guys were waiting for it, Bradin's daughter, not Bradin's daughter, cousin, sister, Kati's daughter, who the hell is she!! Haha, but honestly, I'm gonna leave that hanging for a bit, build your anticipation before I slam it out to the open.. But at any rate, here you go, before you go nuts.._

**Collide**

"Mr. Donohue?" Aaliyah called softly as she closed the door of the room, turning on the lights.

"What time is it?" the patient groaned hoarsely, sleep still in his voice.

"About ten past five, I just need to do a brief exam, if you could sit up for one moment," Allie replied, and the patient chuckled.

"You a doctor? What chart does my chart say?" the sandy blonde male asked from the bed.

"It says you're Edward Donohue,"

"Spinal Muscular Atrophy, honey, you need to read up," he said hoarsely.

"I'm sorry," Allie said, embarrassed that she didn't notice that the chart had said he had SMA, she was too eager on the whole tumor in the heart and lungs to have noticed the fine print.

"Don't be, you come to terms with the disease, you know it's there, you know it's waiting, and every now and again, it takes something else from you," and Allie looked up from the chart, placing it down, to go over to the vegetative patient, to angle his cot upward for her to check his breathing.

"Took my walking, took my independence, took my modesty, and now I'm breathing with a tube,"

"It's an outside shot, but if you let us remove the tumor, we may be able to remove the tube," Allie advised, "This is gonna be a little cold," she warned, holding him slightly upward, pressing the stethoscope on his back to hear for breathing.

"Gotta give you the props," he commented as Allie laid him back down, adjusting the pillows for the patient, trying to help with the comfort level of this particular patient stuck within his ineffective body, "You must be the first medical practitioner to remember head support,"

Bradin was leaning on the counter outside the patient's room, the patient and the intern conversing in full view from there. She was adjusting his pillows, angling the bed raising the cot for the patient.

_Bradin leaned on the doorway as his girlfriend tucked in his younger sister. Nikki had somehow came down with something when she went for a fashion thing with Susannah, Johnny was at Mona's and Ava had caught the bug too, from Nikki no doubt, she waited on the 15 year old on hand and foot as though she was the first ever teenage girl to fall sick, so the care of his siblings came down to him and the girl inside the room._

_He'd made sure Derrick was asleep and went up to check on his sister when he saw Allie one step ahead of him. He watched as she woke Nikki up gently, passing her the glass of water and pills, exchanging a few words with her causing his little sister to chuckle before lying back down to sleep._

A beeping snapped him back to reality. He checked his beeper as the did intern in the room and seconds later she dashed out of the room, headed for the stairs.

It was a multiple vehicle collision. At 5 am in the morning, and the ER was short handed, how there had been multiple vehicles on the road at 5 am let alone for multiple vehicles to collide was beyond her but never the less, she did what she had too. After the patient was out of surgery to correct whatever damage was done to her body by being crushed by massive force from metal and steel, Allie was told to do the tests to ensure she had no internal bleedings and what nots. She was staring at the screen as the images came on when a voice came from behind her.

"So what d'you have for breakfast?"

There was a pause when she recognized the voice and what it said.

"What?" she exclaimed, swiveling around on the chair to face the face of the voice.

"It's an innocent question," Bradin replied as if it was the most normal thing to do, "Take it as an attending getting to know one of his intern,"

"Right," she replied awkwardly before turning around to face the computer screen again.

"So, what was it, pancakes? Cereal?" he prodded, answered only by silence except form the beeping coming from the computer and the tapping from the key board.

"No? okay, I'll guess again," he wondered aloud to himself as Allie continued with the scan, concentrating on any abnormalities in her patients internal organs, "Muesli? Yogurt? Left over China take out?"

"Look, I've already said I don't hate you, okay, so why don't we just move on from there?" she asked, not turning around to face the very persistent attending hovering over her a cardiologist specialist as a matter of fact, one of the best, and he was standing there, wondering aloud what she had for breakfast.

"And you're right," he replied, "We do need to move on, we're not the same people anymore, so we should start over, get to know each other all over again so.. What did you have for breakfast?"

"I don't eat breakfast," she lied obviously.

"Oh come on, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you're a doctor, you know that,"

"French toast, with butter and honey, curiosity satisfied?" Allie replied slightly agitated, learning that it was growing hard to ignore his enthusiasm.

'Damn he's perky in the morning,' she thought as she continued tapping on the computer, moving along on the patient's scan, she was barely making it and it was only a few hours in the shift, but that was just the price to pay being a full time surgical intern and a mother to a nine year old at the same time.

"Not really, what did you have it to go with it, coffee? OJ? Milk?" he prodded on.

"There's an increased T2 signal on her hepatic capsule," Allie said instead, completely ignoring his question.

"I thought this would be fun way to start over, I mess with you, you mess with me, but your lacking in a sense of humor and -" he started saying again but Allie cut him off.

"I had French toast this morning, and I had them with coffee, super caffeinated, no cream, with like 10 spoons of sugar, now if you'll excuse me, my patient's gonna start bleeding from her mouth and anus," and with that Allie got up and exited the viewing room to get her patient.

"Mr. Cruz, I'm going to need your consent for some medical treatment for your wife," Allie informed the man who looked impatient and worried.

"What is it?"

"We just need your consent for some -" she started but he cut her off.

"What did you find?" he demanded.

"Mr. Cruz, I think it would be in your best interest if you didn't.."

"That's my wife in there," he stated, cutting her off again.

That was exactly why she didn't like dealing with patient families; she had enough to deal with with the patients already, they made you connect with them, get attached, feel too much, patient's family? They're just annoying, they want to know everything, the what, the how, and when they do, they second guess you, try to prove you wrong, tell you it's impossible, she had the degree, she did go through the 4 years of medical school, you'd think she knew what she was doing.

"Your wife had an abortion," she replied after a pause, "And you didn't mention it when I took her history with you, which I'm taking to mean, you didn't know about it,"

"No," she stated, shaking his head incredulously, rejecting the statement head on.

"I'd be insane to also tell you she was on the pill,"

"No, she's not," he insisted.

"So I surmised when I took her history from you, but we gave her blood thinners after her surgery, the combination, caused the hemorrhaging,"

"It's not true, we wanted to have kids," he insisted stubbornly.

'And he wonders why I didn't want to tell him,' Allie mused to herself.

"We already did the blood test, Mr. Cruz. So either, she lied to you," she replied, taking a pause, hoping this full grown man was not going to take a swing at her,"Or the blood lied to us,"

"Do whatever you have to do," the man replied after a moment, defeated. And at that moment, Allie's pager beeped, it was a 911, with room 2103, Edward Donohue, her paralyzed patient. She excused herself running off to press on the elevator button frantically before realizing it would take too long, so she ran up the several flights of stairs to get to the patient. Entering the room, she found the machine's in the room beeping frantically, the nurses asking for instructions as she took it all in.

"Get a crash cart in here!" she yelled out the door before dashing to work.

"Push epi and athropine," she ordered as the nurses scurried to work, "And somebody page Dr. Westerly,"

"Start that line, and ventilation,"

"Dr. Montgomery, he's DNR," a nurse stated and she disregarded what she heard.

"Doctor, Do Not Resuscitate!"

"Push another epi!" she barked, pumping on the man's chest, "Come on, breathe, Edward,"

At that moment, Bradin arrived and stood at the doorway, watching Aaliyah as she tried to revive the unconscious patient, alone, as all the nurses just stood and watched.

_"We found a tumor, in your lung, extending to your heart," Bradin told the unmoving man lying on the bed._

_"Tumor? That's uh.. That means I've cancer?" he asked._

_"Yes,"_

_"Wow, what else can they throw at me, huh?"_

_"Mr. Donohue, if you'd like for us to perform a surgery to remove it, we could-" Bradin started, offering the man his options but got cut off._

_"Could? Could what? Give me more time, a couple more months? Years?" he asked weakly, knowing whichever way it was, he was not going to like the answer anyhow._

_"More likely months, but -"_

_"I already can't walk, I can't eat, and you're telling me the rest of my last days are gonna be spent here, on this bed, puking, in pain?"_

_"The pain can be managed, and you'll be a lot more comfortable," Bradin persuaded._

_"I'd rather just get this over with,"_

"Dr. Montgomery, what are you doing?" Bradin asked as the frantic beepings of the machines in the room continued.

"We lost pulse, charge the paddles," she answered ordering the nurse standing aloof nearby.

"Allie, he's DNR!" Bradin said, pulling her away from the patient, but she pushed him away.

"Charge the paddles," she ordered the nurse again, yelling at her as she stood there unmoving, turning to look at Braidn.

"Charge the paddles!" she demanded again.

"Allie! He's DNR," Bradin called, pulling her back again, loudly this time, and she ignored him yet again, "Allie!"

"Okay!" she retorted, finally responding.

"Let him go!" he said looking into her eyes.

"Okay,"

"Let it go!"

"Okay!" she snapped, pulling her arms away from him and she dropped the paddles, looking at the monitors as all the vitals of the patient stopped, the long beeping echoing around the room, before pushing past Bradin, exiting the room, trying to get as far away as the uninterrupted beep from the machine in large angry strides with Bradin right behind her.

"Dr. Montgomery!" he called sternly in the hallway, grabbing her arm to stop her from walking away, but she shrugged it off before pushing into an empty on call room before resting her face in her hands for a moment before running it through her hair and turning around to face Bradin who shut the door behind him.

"I'm fine!" she snapped at him, "I'm fine," she repeated herself unnecessarily, before trying to push past him to exit the room yet again. She couldn't handle being in such close proximity with him especially at a situation like that, she felt broken, vulnerable at that moment and she didn't want him of all people to see it, but he caught her wrists in his hands again and he held them tightly.

Allie was breathing heavily, fighting back tears, nausea creeping up her throat. The pain of loosing a patient was not something he was unfamiliar with. She was blaming herself, like it was her fault that the man in the room was dead, her own short-giving that caused the man his life. It was just as difficult for him to stand aside and do nothing as the heart rate slowed, and everything else crashed, the helplessness, the not being able to do everything you can to bring him back, he knew how it felt, exactly how it felt and he understood what she was experiencing, her vulnerability at that moment and she couldn't look more beautiful than he remembered.

Like him, death was a sore subject to her, something she couldn't deal with, something, she still had not learned to let go off quiet yet, watching her father bleed out at the side of the street in front of her very eyes, the very reason she ever wanted to be a doctor, to save lives, to prevent it from ever happening again, that much he knew.

"You can't lose it like that,"

"He had spinal muscular atrophy," Bradin explained, calmly, "It's genetic, it's incurable, he's in misery and -"

"You knew he was DNR?!"

"Allie -" he started but she cut him off again.

"You knew he'd die?"

"Let it go," he said.

"You knew this was gonna happen?"

"Just let. It.. Go.." he said, softly, this time, gazing into her blue eyes with his emerald green one, "We need to let it go,"

It didn't take long for Bradin to let go of her hands to brush the stray lock of hair away from her eyes like he did many times before and cup her cheek. Her breathe slowed as his heart rate escalated, Allie melted into his touch, exhaling, and he knew it was wrong, just as their first ever kiss was, but their lips met as it did many times before, abledly to each other touch, feeling exactly the same as it did all those years ago, their eyes slid close as the bottled up emotions and desires that were building since they were reunited in the crazy twist of fate burst forth.

_I know that you're leavin'_

_As soon as the sun comes through the window_

As Allie's hands were splayed on his chest moved upward and then she held her arms over her head, he didn't care that she would regard it as a mistake, like all those years before and probably demand that they pretend it never happened the very next day, just like she did before but Bradin's hand caressed her flat stomach nonetheless before pulling the scrubs over her head and dropping them carelessly on the floor as their lips continued the familiar embrace.

_There's no talking this over_

_The damage is done_

His nimble hands tugged on the pant strings as his lips moved away from her lips tracing down her jaw and to her neck and her body molded into his, longing for his touch. Just for a while, they both wished they could go back to before, to when they were still Bradin and Allie.

_There's just too much hurt_

_Too much to forgive_

In a swift movement, he swirled her around to push her up against the wall and Allie's hand traveled down the door till her hand found the knob and locked the door with a soft click.

_Oh but we both know_

_We weren't always like this_

Allie let her hand run up his neck and tangle itself in his hair as his lips trailed genuine kisses down her neck, pressing the right spots.

_Help me remember_

_The way we used to be_

Allie's hands traveled down his back and his lips parted with her neck as she pulled his scrubs over his head. He let his eyes gaze into hers a moment longer before covering her lips with his again, memorizing her features in the semi-darkness, wanting to remember each detail of her face, just the way he did al those years ago falling asleep in her arms, half drunk.

_When nothing else mattered_

_Cause you were in love with me_

Their mouths met tentatively and surely into each other's embrace again, and everything ceased to exist in the world.

_Just for one night, one last time_

_One more good memory_

_When I look back that's what I wanna see_

_Oh, help me remember_

_A/N Song's by Rascal Flatts, Help Me Remember. There's just a certain sadness in the song that I thought was fitting for this scene. _

_Hmm.. Does this mean they're getting back together? Well, we'll have to wait and see.. grins evilly.. Haha. xD_

_Special thanks to JustTheGirl07 for suggesting the song, it was too perfect not to use.._

_Review please, thank you.._

_mAnomaly.._


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Okay, I got a little stumped writing this one, so this is my easy way out, __**READ THIS PLEASE!**_

_For some reason, Allie and Bradin did not go through with finishing what they started at the end of Chapter7 and they had a conversation which I was a little baffled on how to write, deciding that it should never happen again that it was a mistake and they should just try to be friends. Okay, that's it, thank you for your attention; you can now ignore the rest of my crazed rambling and get on with the chapter._

_Thank you guys for being so patient in waiting for these few chapters to come, I'm so sorry, I wrote them and ran out of energy to put them up, my summer job got a lot more in the way than I thought it would, and I fell sick last week, so between juggling everything at once, I really didn't have the time, but I'm posting them all at once now, the ones I've managed to write and also, of course as always, thank you __**6Ellie6, HistoryNerd, angel-princss-18, JustTheGirl07, ShiaLover09**__, for your reviews. You guys rock, I'm so sorry I've left this hanging for so long, really, it's been wow, has it really been that many days since I last updated? Well then, I think I shall just let you get to it now shall we.?_

**Collide**

Walking out of the elevator, Bradin saw Allie where he had hoped to find her, leaning on the counter, reading some charts with utter concentration. She yawned but still kept her eyes on the chart on the counter, he allowed himself a small smile. It was one of the many charts she'd need to read and know like the back of her hand, she was assigned to post ops by her iron-rod ruling resident and she'd need know what allergies the patients had if things should go wrong, what operations they have had, the do's, the don't's, the medications, the change of dressings, et cetera.

He glanced at the two coffee cups in his hands before glancing at her again.

_The sun cascaded across the room and onto her sleeping form. Her hair undid from the do she had up the night before, make up washed off in the rain but she looked as beautiful as ever asleep under the thick covers. Bradin entered the room balancing two coffee mugs in his hands, between prom, running home in the rain and their after prom activities, he'd taken the liberty in waking early to get coffee._

_The smell of caffeine wafted into her nostril and the sleeping girl awoke._

_"Hmm.. I smell coffee.." Allie whispered as she awoke._

_"And you would be right," he replied._

_"Of course I'm right, I'm always right," she replied and he chuckled as he placed the two mugs on the side table, far from her reach on the other side of the bed._

_"No.. Need coffee," she groaned. _

_"And I need you," he quipped before leaning over to kiss her, the kiss he'd wanted to give her all morning since he woke, running his hand through her hair, down to her neck and then her bare back under the covers, feeling the familiar rush of exhilaration whenever he was anywhere near her as the kiss intensified. His pulse raced, it happened whenever she was this close and he was amazed by her ability to make his heart race, to go crazy without even knowing she was doing it._

_He kissed her hungrily, passionately, like he hadn't seen her in years, when in fact, mere minutes ago, she lay in his arms, sleeping, and she replied his eager kisses with the same intensity._

_As Allie cupped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, they both fell back onto the soft bed with a flump._

Bradin walked toward her slowly and surely, stopping next to her, placing down the cup of coffee next to her, 'It was a friendly gesture,' Bradin convinced himself, 'It's what friends do for each other,' there was nothing wrong with buying coffee for a friend he was sure, nothing she would be able to find fault in, he thought as Allie eyes trailed away from the charts and eyed the paper cup filled with, without a doubt, strong black liquid bought from the Starbucks around the corner of the hospital and looked up at him.

"It's just coffee," he stated.

"Okay," she replied. It's been some days since their fleeting moment of craze in the on call room; the whole friend thing was getting on to be pretty okay.

"Okay," Bradin mimicked and walked away, walking into the chief of surgery who'd witnessed the transaction from not to far away.

"What was that?" the familiar aged man asked the sandy blonde man.

"What was what?" Bradin asked in return.

"That," Jace repeated, gesturing towards Allie with his hand.

"What that?"

"Don't 'What that?' me; I've seen it enough times to know what it is,"

"And what is it?"

"It's you and your 'coffee' and that look on your face," Jace stated.

"What's wrong with coffee and having a look? If all doctors walk around with a blank face we'd scare all the patients away," he said trying to add humor into the conversation as he noticed the grim expression Jace had plastered on his face.

"Bradin, not this one," he stated firmly.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know something happened between you 2 because you got her coffee, and I've seen that happen too many times to not know something happened between you two,"

"And what's that something?"

"And now, I know you're lying because you have a habit of answering a question with a question when you're lying, evading the point,"

"Do I?" Bradin asked again, before mentally hitting himself on the head, 'That's just great, a guy says you lie when you answer a question with a question and you answer his question with a question, good going!' he scolded himself silently.

"And your answering questions with questions tells me you're lying,"

"Ah.. Unless I know you know I have a habit of answering questions with questions and intentionally answer your questions with questions to make you think I'm lying," he quipped quickly, not wanting to think over the sentence, knowing that it wouldn't make any more sense in his head than when he said it out loud.

"And why would you want me to think you were lying?"

"You tell me,"

"Bradin, not this one. And not just because you're an attending and she's an intern," he warned sternly, "You wanna have one of your little flings, find a nurse,"

"It's not a fling," he said, defending himself, and his actions.

"As far as I'm concerned it is a fling, why? Because I say so. Why? Because Aaliyah is more than just another intern in this hospital, more than just someone I'm obligated to teach and keep out of trouble, that girl is like a daughter to me, and she needs someone who can be there for her, you can't do that, and we both know the why to that," Jace stated with a short and to the point delivery before walking away for the young attending to mull it over.

"It's like you're this giant jackass piñata begging for someone to beat the candy out of you," a voice called out to him from behind him, Allie's voice. She had files in one hand and the cup of coffee in the other.

"What?" he asked, swerving around, lost. Panic rose up within him, how much exactly had she heard? And what was that comment supposed to mean anyway?

"I talked to Ava this morning,"

"Okay.." he said, that was not what he expected, and then it hit him, "Wait, you're still in contact with her after all these years?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's just you that I cut off, but anyway, is there not something you're forgetting?"

"Wow this is fun, it's like password, keep going, I'll jump in when I've a clue on what you're talking about," he snapped, losing his patience.

"Nik's birthday, genius! You were supposed to plan her surprise 25th when she flies out here to visit you and the whole world back there is waiting on you and your plans, and you apparently do not check your cell's voice mail now do you?"

"Crap! What date is it today?" suddenly remembering.

"Now he remembers," Allie muttered.

"Damn it, what am I gonna do?"

"Not panic would be a good start,"

"I uh.. Oooh-kay, I uhm.. have to.. Damn it!" he stuttered, Nikki's birthday was in 2 days and she was flying out the next day. She was the only person whom he'd spoken to since he came out to New York, mostly because she was probably the only one who was least likely to yell at him, and it was true, he hadn't checked his voice mail, being busy was the excuse, but to wanting to was closer to the truth.

"Okay, why don't I help you, okay, uhm.. We'll talk about it over lunch later, if Barrish lets me go on lunch that is, and if you're not too busy saving lives and all," Allie offered. Being friends was her idea, the least she could do was make an effort, and besides, it was for Nikki, she convinced herself.

"Uhm.. Yea, great thanks," Bradin with a sigh of relief.

"Okay, lunch," she repeated.

"Did we just-?"

"Make plans to make plans? Oh yeah," Allie replied without having a need for Bradin to finish the sentence, "We're surgeons Bradin, we're boring boring trite people who plan and organize and have things under control, it's what we do," she stated before walking away with her file laden arm.

It was the end of her shift for the day and Allie was in the locker room, changing, with some chit chat with her fellow interns, apart from the coffee incident, and the very diplomatic like lunch with Bradin planning Nikki's surprise in a penthouse suite at The Plaza, the day went by without much incident, so she didn't talk so much as listened to the anecdotes her amusing interns had to say.

"So Allie, you got someone waiting for you at home?" Ned asked and Allie raised an eyebrow at him.

"You seem a little out of it, I'm worried, so I'm making conversation, it's what people do," he offered.

"No, it's what people do, spawns of devils just do evil stuff and cackle,"

"Oh hahaha," he cackled dryly, "Why do you hide everything? I mean, and I'm asking cause you do that, you hide everything, we've been here a couple of weeks and we don't know nuts about you,"

"Okay, what it is?" she asked as she slammed her locker door shut.

"What?" Paige asked innocently.

"The bet, what is it?" Allie demanded staring her fellow interns down.

"Well, it's just we never see you hanging back, you're here an hour early everyday, but you don't work a minute overtime, you don't talk about your private life or your sex life, you're like this big bowl of secrets," Cooper said closing his locker too, and Paige and Ned nodded in agreement, "So we've just been wondering, you know, you got a boyfriend, husband, a partner, you know, I mean since you're out of here on time every shift,"

"Mmm hmm.." Allie said slowly, nodding, "So no bet..?" she probed, crossing her arms, staring them put on innocent faces down, it wasn't long but then Cooper cracked, "70 on boyfriend, "

"100 for a friend with benefit," Ned smirked, pulling his shirt off, "Female," he added.

"Ooh.. Kinky," she commented, chuckling, "And you didn't get a slice of that action?" Allie asked the red head as Paige packed her locker too, ready to leave.

"I.. you know might have had, like.. 5 bucks, on a hidden love child," she stated dismissively.

"No, you started the bets with the hidden love child," Ned commented, half unclad looking away from his locker.

Before any of them could say anything however, their resident appeared on the doorway, "We need some hands at the OR, Duodectomy, Montgomery, Sawyer, the two of you scrub up, you're in," she said in a hurry but before she turned to leave, Allie called out to her.

"I can't!"

"What?!" was all Paige, Cooper and Ned could say.

"What?" her resident asked too as she turned around to face Allie at the doorway.

"I can't," she repeated.

"If she doesn't want it, I'm all for taking over," Ned offered quickly.

"No, Montgomery, you're in for a surgery that happens once every six months, maybe, and you turning it down?"

"I'm off right now,"

"Have your husband look after the spawn, Montgomery, you're in for this surgery," her resident proclaimed, and the interns all turned to look at Allie, looking even more shocked than when Allie turned down the chance to be in on the rare surgery when she replied only with silence. Barrish too looked shocked, it seemed that she just took a wild stab at a snappy comment, not knowing she'd hit right on mark.

"I'm a single mom," she finally stated, no point on trying to hide it, her inability to retort was enough for a submission of guilt.

"Where's the single dad?" Paige voiced, curious, the first to recover from the initial shock of this new piece of information.

"I have no idea," Allie replied, picking up her bag and walking out of the locker room.

"10 bucks for the perfect guess," Paige stated disbelievingly, as they all watched Allie leave the room.

_A/N Haha, lucky for you, you don't have to wait, just click the button and read the next one, I've put up all the chaps I've written, so.. Enjoy.._


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N This might be a little confusing, if it is, let me know, I'll see what I can do to better arrange this or explain it.. At any rate however, I think we'll like this one, because as promised, the drama is gonna start a flowin'.._

**Collide**

"Are you okay?" Paige asked, snapping her locker shut, also snapping Allie out of her daze.

"I'm fine,"

"You're sweating," she stated.

"I'm fine, Paige," Allie insisted, closing her locker too, pulling the stethoscope over her head.

"You're flushed," she continued, placing her hand on Allie's forehead, "And you're burning up,"

"It's probably just a bug," Allie stubbornly insisted.

"You should rest," the red head advised her friend.

"I'll work it off,"

"Brilliant consult doc, if only this new remedy actually work,"

"Paige we're interns, we've got no time to rest," she explained determinedly as they exited the locker room, that was just an excuse, she just really needed or rather wanted a distraction. If she went home now, she'd have nothing to do, nothing to do but think and if she did that, she was pretty sure her mind would explode, what with the whole hospital, and she was sure the whole hospital by knew by now, including Bradin, knowing she had a kid at home. She was fine, she had already been into this shift for several hours, what's several hours more?

"Here, I've done your pre-rounds for you," Paige mentioned as she placed the small notebook in Allie's pocket, "Don't go spreading that to the patients, just go lie in a ditch and die or something till our rounds with Barrish later," Paige commented as the two of them walked pass the blonde doctor who didn't notice them with what staring into space, with much on his mind as well. But it wasn't long till a voice came from behind that startled him. It wasn't the fact that a voice came from behind that startled him, but more of who the voice belonged to that shocked him.

"Jenny?" he said turning around to face the voice that crept up behind him.

_"Hey, what are you doing here?" Bradin said to the willowy blonde, standing up behind the large desk in the study, pushing the small velvet box he had in his hands off the table where it fell with a soft thud._

_"Just reorganizing some stuff," Jenny replied, "And I found this," she held out a photo frame, showing the picture it held behind the glass._

_"That was a long time ago," he commented, looking at the photograph, smiling to himself. It was one of his old surf comp. photo's, there he was soaking wet, loose strands of shaggy hair clinging onto his face with a smile so wide and bright next to his surfboard._

_"You know what's so great about it? That smile on your face, you look so happy, I don't think I've seen you that happy," she said placing the picture down on the desk. "Makes me wonder, if you were happier then, before you became a doctor, moving out here, becoming a hot shot surgeon, meeting me,"_

_"Jenny, you make me so happy," he said, sincerely, looking into her piercing blue eyes which seemed to relax for a moment, but not for long however, because her eyes then spotted the little box lying carelessly on the floor, which she of course on impulse of curiosity, bent down to pick it up._

_"Brae, what is this?" she asked, unable to bring herself to open it up, placing herself down onto the chair behind the desk._

_"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise, but, uhm.." he started, getting down on one knee in front of her, "Jenny," he said, placing his hands over hers on the box, "This year has been a whirlwind for me, it's been great, I got everything I wanted and I realize that it would have been all for nothing without you. Without love. I love you, Jenny, I do, I never thought I could do that again, but I do, I want to spend the rest of my life with you,"_

_"Bradin," she breathed as he opened the small velvet lined box to reveal the diamond ring within._

_"Jennifer Evelyn Mackenzie, will you marry me?"_

Maybe it _WAS_ time to let go, Bradin mused.

"Bradin, I love you, okay, and I want for us to work," she said, "So I'm here, okay, I'm.. Here, so please, stop running," Jenny pleaded and he felt a stroke of emotion strike through his stomach, hard. She did that to him. Her glossed lips, blonde hair and bright blue eyes, almost the complete opposite of Allie.

Maybe he already had.

As her resident pushed open the door, Allie moved in alongside her fellow interns like cattle following a cow herd, they moved in and collected around the bed when her head gave an involuntary jerk as she focused on the patient. Her heart stopped beating as she looked at that familiar ashen complexion, and that dark brown matted hair, shorter, but the same. Her breath got stuck somewhere in her chest as her blue orb like grey-ish eyes focused at the man before her.

Carter.

_A/N This didn't turn up half as dramatic as I hoped it would turn out, you know what with leaving you guys with another 2 unexpected surprises and twists in the story yet again, but lucky for you, you won't be left hanging because the next ones already up.. This is a bit short I know, I was tired writing this one, but it seemed pretty decent so I just kept it as it is.._


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Honestly this is really just a filler, a lot of gibberish medical talk, mostly focused on the patient but as a whole it's kinda important so I wouldn't recommend skipping it. _

**Collide**

"Aaliyah," a voice called out to her and she spun around at the sound of the voice.

"Eleanor?" Allie croaked, surprised, "What are you doing here?" she asked as her mother walked toward her down the narrow corridor of the hospital, her Prada heels clicking on the hard tiles of the hospital floor as she approached.

"Well, I was just passing by," the woman in the Marc Jacob's suit and Gucci bag slung over one arm replied airily. She looked young, very much like Allie, but very different at the same time. The same raven brown hair, the same misty orb like blue eyes, the same porcelain complexion, but she had a different air to her, a certain sophistication and decorum, almost graceful, though not in Allie's eyes.

"Here?" Allie asked, shocked. There was just way to many people cropping up and jumping up at her face lately that she half expected to wake up any moment now. Her past just always seemed to have a way of coming back and biting her in the ass in ways that she never would have seen coming.

"I was visiting dear Carter, you remember him?"

"How could I not?" she said in an undertone, recalling the incident just hours before.

_Her name flashed up in his brown eyes like a twin beacon of amazement as his did in her eyes. He said it too, her name as he used to, breathing out the two-syllabled word only he called her by, 'Liyah.'_

_Aaliyah didn't even realize that they stood there staring at each other for a good few seconds as her throat constricted and she lost the ability to talk even when her resident called out her name, "Montgomery," she called, "Your patient?"_

_"Montgomery!" he resident called out, snapping her out of the daze._

_"I.. uh.." she stuttered._

_"The patient, Montgomery," Barrish said prodding her along._

_"Capricorn, still single, loves animals, good with people, likes to travel and cook, still crazy over the girl who broke his heart in high school," Carter stated charismatically staring straight at Aaliyah who was staring at him still as the other doctors in the room stood there, lost._

_"Dr. Montgomery!" her resident called and Allie cleared her throat, looking down at the notes Paige had written down, "Carter O'Connell. Male. 29. Back for a second post op evaluation. Dr. Summers removed a brain tumor from the prefrontal cortex 6 months ago. No warning signs since the last check up except for a brief fainting spell yesterday. No allergies, no medications as of now,"_

"Well, uhm.. It's nice to see you, Eleanor," Allie said with exaggerated civility, to the woman who haven't quiet earned the right to be called her mother, "But I have work, so.." she started saying, backing away from Eleanor, gesturing with the file she held in her hands.

"Aaliyah, I just want to talk to you,"

"There's nothing to talk about," Allie quipped quickly, she didn't want to stay in her presence any longer than she needed to, the air around her seemed toxic almost.

"On the contrary, I think there's a lot to talk about," Eleanor argued, more articulately than ever.

Allie exhaled, and stopped her attempts to walk away, "What exactly is the response you're fishing for here, Eleanor?" she started, "You want to hear me say that I understand? That I didn't care that you didn't care? That I forgive you for walking out of our lives and that it was no problem that you left dad to drink himself half to death?"

"Aaliyah, your father was not your responsibility," she replied gravely.

"No, but he was yours!" Allie snapped, taking a step forward at her.

"Aaliyah, I.."

"And you know what else was your responsibility too? Your daughter! You didn't care then, you don't care now either, you're just a selfish brat who does what's best for you, not giving a damn about the consequences of your actions and what they do to others, so no, there's nothing for us to talk about, Eleanor," she semi-ranted before turning around and stormed away, bumping into her stout resident.

"Watch where you're going, Montgomery!" she snapped at Allie when she bumped into the stern stout resident in the E.R. Allie muttered a quick sorry to her resident before handing her the file in her hands which she had gripped so tightly during the conversation with Eleanor that it now had creases on the otherwise smooth pages.

"Tests came back fine, for uh.. O'Connell," Allie explained, uncomfortably.

"Oxygen saturation in 94 percent," Barrish replied, handing the file back to her and Aaliyah took a look at the papers.

"Oxygen saturation is normal,"

"It's off by one point," the resident doctor stated.

"But, it's within range," Allie argued.

"Montgomery, you are the intern, I am the resident, you do as I say,"

"The guy had a brain tumor removed a few months ago, he's just looking to get a check up,"

"He fainted yesterday, or do you not remember that fact on the count of being too busy ogling the patient this morning?"

"It could be anything," Allie retorted, ignoring the part of her visible ogling of earlier the patient being obvious to everyone in the room, "Low blood pressure, low sugar," she went on on the other possibilities, "He's just back for a regular post op check up,"

"So check," Barrish snapped at her.

"If his sat percentage is off, that's a problem with his lungs, that doesn't have anything to do with his brain," Allie rationalized with her resident, using the medicine as her defense of not having to face any more ghosts of Christmas past for the day.

"Get the arterial blood gases done," she ordered, "If he's hypoxic, then, round up all the tests," this time, she walked away before Allie had a chance to argue further. She let out a sigh, between Bradin finding out about Cassidy, the bug she's down with, Eleanor's surprise visit and Carter, she was not liking the day. Maybe she should have taken Paige's advice after all, go home and rest.

She didn't have time to brood her fate however as the sound of the ambulance sliced through the flurried movements in the E.R. Being the only free doctor in the room, the paramedic pulled her to work.

She was definitely Not liking this day.

After dealing with the Caucasian woman who was screaming her head off, taking longer than she would usually have to deal with a regular patient with her writhing and screaming, Allie headed out to see the family member, the son.

"How is she?" he asked jumping to his feet with a sling bag over his shoulder. He looked to her in his mid teenage years, with his mused up brown curls on his head and the spurt of growth height wise as comparison to his young-ish looking face.

"She's fine, she's stable now," Allie explained, wanting to calm the obviously scared out of his mind kid, "Your mum had a small pulmonary embolism," she said, "A blood clot in her lungs," she added, explaining after the confused look in his face.

"But the pain was in her leg," he replied, while taking out a pen and a notebook from his bag and started scribbling down what Allie had just said.

"She had DVT, deep vein thrombosis, that's basically a bigger clot that was in her leg, I assume that a bigger piece of that broke off and traveled up to her vein and blocked the blood flow to her lungs, no blood flow, no oxygen," she explained and he was diligently writing it down in his neat scrawl in the notebook.

"Okay, but she's fine now?" he asked, looking up from the notebook for a moment.

"Uhm, Charlie, is your dad here? There are some things I want to talk to him about," Allie said, guarded, wanting to confirm her findings, no need to feed the kid more information than he can handle anyway.

"He's dead," he stated in a a-matter-of-fact-y tone, "Just talk to me, I take care of her,"

"Your mum had a blood alcohol level of .12 at 10.30 in the morning,"

"Oh, I gave it to her," he replied and Allie raised an eyebrow, "It cools her out," he explained, "She hears voices,"

"She's schizophrenic? Well, that explains the DVT, alcohol makes her pass out, she's immobile for hours,"

"She's not an alcoholic," he snapped, "I gave her exactly 2 ounces this morning and the last time she drank," Charlie flipped past the pages of his note book, "was last Monday, the same, 2 ounces of Vodka,"

"She only drinks when you give it to her?" Aaliyah asked skeptically, unable to keep the disbelief from her voice. She'd been there, the whole alcoholic parent was not unfamiliar ground, she felt sorry for the boy.

"It's not the alcohol!" he insisted.

"Charlie how old are you?"

"I'm 21," he said convincingly, but somehow, Aaliyah just didn't buy it, "And I know that it's not the alcohol, okay, I.." he started saying but then a nurse came out from behind the blinds, calling out.

"Doctor, I think you should come in here!" and Allie did just that to find the 39 year old woman vomiting a large mass of blood.

"What did you give her?!" she demanded as the patient continued to puke out blood like a gushing tap from her mouth.

"IV heparin like you ordered" the nurse said, panicked as Allie rushed forward, "Doctor, she's bleeding out!"

After the initial fright, she did manage to stabilize the patient and again, she went out to meet with Charlie again, tail between her legs and off her high horse, "What happened?" he asked anxiously leaping forward yet again.

"Your mother lost a lot of blood, but she's stable now,"

"But you said it was clots,"

"To be honest Charlie, I have no idea what's wrong with her right now," Allie said, defeated, "But uhm.. What I can do is run some tests, and then get back to you when I get the results, okay?"

Before the boy could reply however, her pager beeped erratically and Allie inwardly groaned before excusing herself.


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N So how're we liking it so far? Is it coming along, drama-ly enough? Haha.. plough on my friends, there's still a good few more.._

**Collide**

"You remember eight grade?" Carter asked as Allie wheeled him back into his lofty private room, "Sophomore year in Dalton, we had to read Romeo and Juliet, for English? And then we had the weekly discussions,"

"Your point here, Carter?" Aaliyah asked flipping open his chart, wondering where the conversation was going. There were a lot of this you say to an old high school girlfriend, your first love, discussing Romeo and Juliet was not one of them.

"You told Miss Evelyn that Juliet was an idiot because she falls for the one guy she knows she can't have, then she blames fate for her own bad decision,"

"And then she explained that fate comes into play and choice goes out the window sometimes," Allie continued for him as she placed down the chart.

"And you argued that love, like life is about making choices. And fate has nothing to do with it,"

"Everyone thought it was so romantic," Allie explained, "Romeo and Juliet, true love. You know if Juliet was stupid enough to fall for the enemy, drink a bottle of poison, and go to sleep in a mausoleum.. Then she deserved whatever she got," Allie rehashed her very same argument as many years before in the posh classroom of the ivy preparatory school.

"You still believe that now?"

"What? That Juliet was an idiot?" she asked, confused.

"That fate can be taken into your own hands," he clarified his question. She didn't answer, but held his gaze steadily.

"But you can't say that their love wasn't epic," Carter said, gauging her reaction, "Like us," he added, "Like Anthony and Cleopatra, Brad and Jennifer, Romeo and Juliet, epic,"

"All tragedies I must add," Allie quipped.

"They don't write songs about those that come easy," he retorted.

"Come on, Carter, it's been, what 11.. 12 years?"

"And here we are, you can't say that fate had nothing to do with this,"

"I'd been playing Russian Roulette with bumping into you when I decided to move back to New York, Carter, this, is not fate," she insisted with a confident smile.

"If you say so," he replied with a smirk, and she walked out of the room, inwardly smiling. He had that effect on her, charm her though she didn't want to be, and he still did as it seems. As Allie leaned over the nurses counter joining her the other 3 interns dictated by Barrish, she heard the red head groan about something that sounded a lot like "Lucky bitch,"

"Why are you smiling?" Cooper asked as Allie sat down on the cafeteria table.

"Cause I had a dream of you last night," she offered dreamily.

"Woman, I'm taken," he replied.

"By who? Pete the nurse?" Paige teased.

"Whoa, wait, Pete's gay?" Allie asked, laughing.

"Yea, big shocker there," Ned quipped.

"Anyway, lucky bitch?" Allie asked, referring to what she heard Paige say earlier.

"Jennifer Mackenzie," Cooper replied.

"Who?"

"3 o'clock," Paige replied and their heads turned to the direction of a new face, a doctor, in a white coat, tall, thin, very stereotyped blonde hair, blue eyed.

"I heard she's engaged to our hot cardiospeacilist Dr. Westerly, and they're gonna be married in like a month," Cooper offered. If it wasn't that the piece of information marched up and punched Allie in the face, she would have wondered how is it that a guy could come up with more dish than she ever could. Never mind the fact that he was gay, he was still a guy, and Allie could never really get gossip on people the way he did.

"I am so not listening in on this," Ned groaned, "Ladies, enjoy," he stated before walking away. Cooper and Paige chuckled slightly. Allie was a little preoccupied to be amused by Ned's antics. She wasn't quiet sure what she was feeling, or should be feeling. It was like they were exactly back to 10 years ago when they'd kissed and then she later walked in on Bradin and Erika.

"And get this, she like lives on a trust fund, a big fat heavy one,"

"Like I said, lucky bitch," Paige commented.

"Oh, yeah, Allie," Cooper changed the subject abruptly, ignoring Paige, "We still on for the party tomorrow night right? Your place?"

"Uh.. Yeah," she replied absent mindedly, "Who'd you invite anyway?" she asked, determined to push it from mind like she did before, by transferring her time and energy at other trivial matters, anything to occupy her tired fever-ed mind.

"Oh, some interns, surgical, of course, some guys from labs, some nurses, Pete,"

"Pete, of course," she teased, spotting Jace however, she left Paige and Cooper there and leapt to her feet, approaching the head of surgery.

"Dr. Brannon, I want to do an ultrasound for the Grace Echolls, the schizophrenic patient?" Allie asked guardedly.

"Allie, you diagnosed her with Vitamin K deficiency, clotting and bleeding at the same time, it's perfect, it fits, you pumped her full of the goods and she's fine now isn't she?"

"I know, but the kid feeds her a steady dose alcohol, somehow I don't think that malnutrition is the problem here," she pleaded and he gave her a look which clearly was him wondering if the muscular atrophy patient had taught her anything at all.

"Look, Jace, I know, you don't get too personally attached to the patient and their lives, but this kid, he' just a kid, he's not 21 and I know that for a fact, and if she gets worse he can't take of her, just let's be sure it's not liver tumor or cirrhosis that's causing her symptoms, please," Allie pleaded, seeing so much of herself in Charlie, wanting to help him, and Jace saw that too.

"Fine, but if it's not, then you have to let it go,"

"No problem, Chief," she said with a smile.

Then, as if on cue, her pager beeped. It was Carter's room and the nurse paged a 911. She ran up flights of stairs and made it to the room, winded, but in less than a minute. He seemed to be fine however, nothing to justify the page she received.

"So am I invited to the party?" he smirked looking at the out of breath Aaliyah at his doorway.

"The nurse paged a 911, are you okay?" she asked, checking his pulse, his breath, and other doctorly things.

"Oh, that, I might have flirted with her a little bit,"

"Carter!"

"So am I invited?" he repeated his question smugly, watching the reaction on her face.

"How did you even hear about that?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, you know me, Carter O'Connell, me love me party's,"

"Tell you what, we get your sat rate all the way up to where it's supposed to be, then we get you partying okay?"

"Is that a deal?"

"Consider it a promise. I wouldn't deprive the sluts and whores of Manhattan of your presence for too long now would I?" she replied wittily.

"Sluts and whores? That's not really like me anymore, Liyah,"

"Then what are you like nowadays? I hear we have an excellent selection of nurses here in Lennox Hill,"

"You know.. Tortured.." he said, "Ever since I got my heart broken," he added in an undertone, and Allie looked away uncomfortably.

"I'm.. I'm gonna check up on you a little later. Don't flirt with anything to get me here again," she warned before exiting the room and he chuckled. A small jolt ran across her body, she almost forgot how good that sounded.


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N 6Ellie6 : Now that you mention it, 4 is a crazy lot to take in, but I'm glad you like it, and you guys do deserve it, I DID leave it hanging for a bit too long. But anyway, you get your wish in this one.. wink! hint hint.. xD_

_angel-prnecss-18 : Haha.. Don't worry, I don't think there will be any more in chunks, from now on it's gonna be all old fashioned,1 update a day, or maybe 1 in a few days, just for the sake of balance you know, wouldn't want you guys to od on drama now would we.. Haha.. Okay, so anyway, Nikki's birthday's just gonna be a short one in a flashback. On to the next, Bradin proposed and Jenny accepted, but he left for New York after they had a row about him feeling too bad about losing patients because he felt she didn't understand him, having being his wife to be and knowing he lost his parents at a young age and all, and now, she's come to patch things up._

_ShiaLover09 : Oh, the drama of it all.. I know.! xD Haha.. Hope this was soon enough for you. And Yes, Bradin is engaged, 'oh noz…!' right? But we'll see.. grins evilly and rubs hands together.. And as for Carter.. We'll see bout that too.. _

_Okay, on to it.._

**Collide**

_"D, we're gonna be late," Allie yelled up the stairs, muffled, with a piece toast jammed between her teeth. It was a quarter to 8 and Allie was about to be late for work, Cassidy for school._

_As Allie shoved her arms into a jacket, looking around at the place, she instantly regretted the party she had managed to get Cooper to rope her into hosting at her place the night before. Nikki's birthday had been great, at the penthouse suite at the Plaza, housekeeping could take care of that mess, the mess she had at her house? That was all for her to clean. And Kati who had babysat Cassidy for the night had dropped her back home late hence the running about like a chick without it's head at the wee hours of the morning._

_"Cassidy!" she yelled again up the stairs and she heard a reply of some sort from the raven haired girl up the spiral staircase, followed by soft thumping of hurried footsteps, which Allie was sure was the scurrying of Cassidy's little feet in her room._

_At that moment the intercom rang._

_"Yea?" she asked, exasperated._

_"There's someone here to see you ma'am, a-" the polite voice at the other end started but she cut him off._

_"Okay, just let him in, please, thank you," she quickly said to the front desk service, Jace was to swing by and give a lift for Cassidy and her as her car was at the workshop. And Allie was scrambling around in such a hurry that she forgot the front desk should be able to recognize him. At that moment the young girl with raven brown hair came flying down the stairs, with a bag over her shoulders but no coat._

_"D, where's your coat, it's cold out today," Allie asked the child as she wrapped a scarf over the young girl's neck._

_"Oh, I left it upstairs," Cassidy replied, backing to the stairs._

_"I'll get it, just finish your milk and tell Jace to wait a sec, okay," she ordered before scurrying up the stairs. Locating the brown Burberry coat Kati got her for her recent 9__th__ birthday on the bed, Allie quickly hurried back down the spiral stairs. As the kitchen loomed into view though, she saw not the elderly man who was like a father to her, but another younger male._

_The two green eyes in the kitchen eyed each other with careful curiosity and apprehension._

Aaliyah was exiting the OR when she noticed the board, there was a surgery scheduled for an open heart operation for a Carter O'Connell the next day, there really was only one, one who was in that hospital for the duration and she couldn't believe Bradin would schedule a heart surgery on a patient without being backed by medical facts. And at that moment Bradin so happened to be passing through the corridor.

"You scheduled him for surgery?" she asked, accusingly, "The mri and echo of his heart was clean, there's nothing there," Allie argued, strangely protective of the boy, now man, who loved and hurt her so many years ago against the other man who loved and hurt her.

"He's sat percentage is still dropping, you got another explanation for black outs and low oxygen?" he asked back in a calm voice of professionalism.

"There's only one condition that simultaneously affects both the heart and the brain," she stated.

"Exactly,"

"Tuberous Sclerosis? In a guy who was just cut open to remove a brain tumor 6 months ago?"

"Guy hit the lottery twice," Bradin stated coldly, crossing his arms, the indifference was as though he was talking about a book that had typo's and not a human life.

"So what? Exploratory surgery? You're just gonna cut in and grope around in the guy's heart? You could kill him," Allie fought to disagree with him, wondering if there was any chance that this was personal for him.

"I know it's in his heart,"

"You're letting the past with this guy get in the way of your judgement," Allie accused haughtily.

"No, I'm not, you are," he defended his actions of scheduling a dangerous exploratory surgery for a patient which in his scans show no signs of there being a reason to operate at all.

"I'm not the one attempting to cut him open and grope around in his heart, blindly,"

"I'm trying to save his life,"

"You're trying to kill him!" she snapped.

"You're getting too emotionally attached to the patient, again!" he retorted.

"I am not getting too emotionally attached.." Aaliyah stubbornly argued. She was right about Grace having a tumor in her liver, it told her that even the best could make mistakes based in Jace's prognosis, but he cut her off.

"You wanna be a surgeon, you have to keep your objectivity, don't let anything get in your way, keep your head in the game, keep calm, keep focused, you cannot get attached to a patient, no matter what your history with him is, and if you can't do that, I'm sure that there are plenty other interns who are willing to take your place in my OR,"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" she snapped again, before turning to walk away, and he let her, but then he caught up and pulled her back.

"Wait, look, I'm not going insane right.. I mean, there WAS a kid this morning at your place?" he asked, changing the subject abruptly but not rather unexpectedly, it was a bomb waiting to go off anyway.

"No, you're not insane, cause that would be irresponsible, you know with the hospital allowing you to crack open people's chest and all,"

"God, that actually makes it worse," he stated oausing for a second closing his eyes, "Is she.."

"No," she replied swiftly, before he even finished posing the question, "She's not okay, trust me, I think I'd know," she said as she started to walk away again but he caught her elbow as he had done so regularly of late.

"Allie!"

"She's not, okay, she's really really not your kid," she insisted and before he could say anything, his pager beeped.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

"Looks like you gotta go,"

"No one ever said anything about pagers when I said I wanted to be a surgeon," Bradin said randomly, reading the page.

"Guess you had a crappy guidance counselor then," Allie commented and turned around, headed to the room of Grace Echolls, who had just came out from surgery, probably wheeled back into the room when she was having the heated discussion with the cardiologist expert, and she entered the room to speak to her son, Charlie, but she found that there was already someone there, 2 someones as a matter of fact, women in suits who were trying to convince him to go with them.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Allie asked, entering the room.

"We're from Child Protection Services and this young man needs to come with us,"

"You ratted out on me," he snapped at her.

"Charlie.." Allie started saying but he ignored her.

"I'm not going anywhere, I don't need to be relocated, I live with my mum," he insisted stubbornly to the social workers.

"Charlie, it'd be best if you just come with us," lady number 1 in the suit advised. Aaliyah stood aside, silent, watching the scene before her unfold. Reluctantly, the boy went over to his mothers side and whispered a goodbye before leaving with them, not before glaring at Aaliyah as they passed of course. Allie sighed, all in a day's work of being a doctor isn't it? Fun fun fun, she thought as she headed to the locker room for a change of clothes when her beeper went off.

"I swear to God!" she thought angrily, rage and hatred for the annoying little piece of machine rising to boiling temperature, understanding Bradin's earlier statement about them little eratically beeping things, "I'm gonna get a hammer and pound that bloody effing thing to a bloody metallic pulp!" she thought venomously. But she didn't. She looked at the page and it was Carter. Again. And Allie doubted that he was pulling the same prank on her twice. He never repeated the same pick up line let alone something like this. She rushed to his room and found all hell loose there. Machine's beeping erratically, nurses at a lost on what to do, the crash cart brought in for no apparent reason, the patient was conscious and loosing feeling to his limbs it seemed and the ability to move them.

At that moment, Bradin arrived too and efficiently as possible he got the instructions out, what drug, what dosage to insert, what to do. Before she knew it, he charge the paddles and defib-bed Carter, who screamed, what with having some thousands of volts being sent through his chest coursing through his body. His heart rate was back up normal and he seemed to gain back feelings in his limbs, though in much more pain in the chest area.

"You still think that's nothing?" he asked Allie as he walked out of the room pulling of the latex gloves and dumping them in the trash on his way out.


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Thanks for the reviews.__** JustTheGirl07, 6Ellie6, angel-prncess-18.**_

_Love you guys.!!_

_Wow, I think this one's like.. My the longest chapter.. Ever.! o.o_

_But anyhoo, let's get to it then.._

**Collide**

"So, how're the limbs so far?" Allie asked, entering the room with the forms for him to sign, it was a consent form for the heart surgery Bradin had booked the operating room for and after Allie had to prep him for surgery.

"So so," Carter replied smugly and Allie smiled, remembering how he screamed after having to be jolted for his heart to transfer blood to the other parts of his body. She smiled because it was something so.. Carter, so arrogant, yet so charming.

"Aren't you gonna.. Pick up my chart, check my iv, or other doctorly stuff you doctors do?" he asked from the bed.

"Someone else is gonna do that, I just need you to sign these," she stated "They're consent forms," she explained, sitting down next to his bead as he took the papers and pen and put his penmanship over the dotted line at the bottom. Aaliyah couldn't explain it, but she needed to leave the presence of the other interns for a bit, leave the work behind, leave her screwed up, non-existent love life behind, everything and just have a few moments of peace.

"Something bothering you?" Carter asked as he handed them back to her, he knew her that well.

"What? No.." she said shaking her head.

So much for the few moments of peace, Allie mused.

"Come on, I recognize a Liyah daze when I see one, and that's a full on, heads over heels, lost in the sky Liyah daze," he said and she chuckled slightly, sighing.

"I had this patient," she started, "She's schizophrenic, came in clotting and bleeding at the same time, her kid, had no idea she was a chronic drinker, but she was and she had liver tumor," Allie explained what was bugging her as Carter lay on his sick bed, quiet literally, just listening, his eyes tracing her face, "He says he's 21, but he's not, I know he's not, kid can't be more than 13 at most and he'd been taking care of her all this while,"

"Sounds awfully familiar," Carter commented for the first time in an undertone and Allie gave him a face before continuing.

"And, she called Child Protection services on him, and I just don't get it you know, she took a step back, for his good, she called social welfare even when she knew they were gonna take him away from her,"

"Maybe she couldn't do it to him anymore, he's her son," he offered.

"I just.. I mean, it's so rational that.. It's almost.. Sane, you know, for a chronic drinking schizophrenic, that's really pretty damned close to sanity,"

"Parental instincts," Carter shrugged, "They want what's best for them,"

Allie sighed, "They way they show it vary, I gotta say," he added, referring to both their screwed up childhoods, "But they only want the best for their kid,"

"Don't I know," Allie commented.

"Yeah, I heard about that," he said, "You know, through the grapevine, we upper east siders like our gossip, and I still can't believe you're raising her,"

"Well, someone's gotta," she said lightly, "And hey, at least with the screwed up parentings I've seen, I know what Not to do," she said and they both chuckled.

After a while more, Allie got up, "Well, I should go, if I haven't told you, my resident's kinda a bitch," she whispered the last part softly, drawing more laughter from her sick friend with the pallid complexion and dark ebony colored hair.

"You know, you don't need to sit and chat with the patients while getting consent," Bradin stated as he read the same line in the chart for about the hundredth time, trying to appear nonchalant as he casually dropped a comment on Allie spending too much time with a patient, this one patient in particular, this one patient she had a past with.

"Yeah, and you don't need to know the lottery numbers for tomorrow but if someone offered them you'd take it won't you?" Aaliyah retorted cleverly as she passed the consent forms to the nurse at the counter.

"Smart but not quiet the same thing don't cha think?"

"Poh-Tae-To, Poh-Tah-To," she said dismissively. Bradin hadn't pressed the whole Cassidy issue since the day before, to Aaliyah's great relief, and as a courtesy, she didn't press him on the whole Jenny thing, though the whole hospital was buzzing bout that more than her single-parenthood issue. She's also taken to ignoring their little episode in the on call room, as did he, both so much in denial that they were almost convinced that it did not happen. The fact that their embrace and kisses seared exactly the way it did 10 years ago almost convinced them that it was all in their head and it had not actually happened.

Much much later, Aaliyah and that same doctor was scrubbing up over the sink in the area next to the operating room preparing for surgery, one more confident than the other that the operation was going to show something.

"You better be sure there'll be something there," Allie said as she was scrubbing up over the sink next to the cardiothoracic specialist who was to be the one performing the surgery.

"I know there's something there," Bradin replied surely, emphasizing the 'know'.

"You're cutting in blind," she insisted as she rinsed the soap off her hands, "There's nothing in the scans or images that point to tumor," she argued, calmly this time, not letting her emotions get in the way, either with the patient or the doctor.

"You don't see the wind but it's there isn't it?" he asked instead, answering a question with a question.

"Oh, look at you going all profound," Allie taunted, "Next thing I know you'll tell me unicorns do exist,"

"Wait, you mean they don't?" he quipped, pausing for a second to look at her.

"That's cute, Bradin, really," as the two of them pushed the door open and entered the Operating Room.

"We found a tumor in your lung, extending into your heart; it wasn't visible on the mri because it was growing along the heart wall. It was benign, but the tumor was the size of an octopus wrapped around your heart. We cut out all of the tumor and replaced the damaged heart muscle with bovine patches, cow's pericardium, the sac that encloses the heart. The problem now is that there may not be enough heart left for it to regulate blood through your whole body, it's possible that it'll shut down from the strain. You'll need a heart transplant, and you'll be needing it soon,"

"Wow. That's a.. lot of words,"

"You'll need a heart transplant, or you might die,"

"Oh,"

"Yeah, Carter, 'Oh'," she retorted mockingly before mentally hitting herself, it wasn't his fault he was still groggy from the anesthesia, it wasn't his fault he was dying, and it sure as hell wasn't his fault that she was in a foul partially sleep-deprived connected mood. It'd been hours since she had rest. After the surgery, she had to run off to get the labs done, and while waiting for the labs, she did an hour at clinic before being paged to the ER. There had been a brawl somewhere and she had to sit and do sutures for at least 7 bug burly drunken guys.

"Can I ask you something personal?"

"I'm telling you you could die and you wanna.. Chit chat?" she asked, disbelieving.

"Yeah,"

"You are unbelievable O'Connell,"

"And you are too kind Montgomery, but does that mean I get my question?"

"If I say no?"

"I'll hold my breath, which will stop my already over-strained heart, killing me. You're right here, you'll be charged with murder. Lifetime in prison loved by a big old girl ironically named Tiny,"

"So my choices are homicide charges or inappropriate personal questions from a patient,"

"I know; kind of sucks,"

"You know what, hold your breath. I'll take my chances with Tiny. I can do girl-on-girl, it's not the first day you've known me Carter,"

"Oh, you're bringing up girl-on-girl? How can I blackmail you if you bring up girl-on-girl?"

"What did you want to know?" she asked with a smile, resigning to his charm.

"I Can ask you personal questions right? A patient is allowed to ask his doctor a personal question?"

"You can but I'd be answering as your friend and not your doctor, "

"Oh, you're good at this aren't you?" he commented humorously.

"Patience dwindling.. "

"The guy, the attending, that's.. uh.. That was Bradin wasn't it?"

"You mean Dr. Westerly? The guy who saved your life? "

"Yeah, the son of a bitch who de-fibbed me while I was awake," he stated and Allie laughed at his tone of voice, but he continued anyway, "You still with him?"

"No!" said so loudly so quickly that it was almost a yell while shaking her head vigorously, "I.. I mean, no I'm not with him," she repeated maintaining her decorum.

"Good, cause that means I won't have to fight him for you,"

"And what makes you think I want you to fight him for me?"

"Because," he started, "I'm Carter O'Connell, you're in love with me. You always have been, I'm smart, but not a know-it-all; I'm funny, I'm rich— and I'm hot. Still hot after brain and heart surgery, I've grown up and I'm still hot, hotter than I was in high school, I'm a catch, if you can wrap your head around the failing heart, that is,"

"Oh, how I've missed your witty banter, O'Connell," she said with a resigned sigh, she almost forgot how tiredly fun it was talking to him.

"Right back at ya, Liyah, right back at ya,"

Smiling, Allie left the room.

Dressed in a black tee over a long sleeved white one, and jeans, tired and ready to head home, Aaliyah leaned on the railing outside the hospital for a breather before headed to Kati's for dinner. She inwardly thanked whatever gods that smiled upon her that she had Kati, who, even with her clothing line in works, still found the time to take Cassidy in when Allie was working. She needed someone she could trust, not some baby sitter who does god knows what when she's not around, or Lillian, no, she didn't need Cassidy to turn into one of those prickly bitchy Upper East Side snob kids, even if it wasn't possible.

Cassidy seemed a lot like Allie in ways more than one, apart from the obvious physical attributes. Cassidy was very guarded, she was given up, even for a short period of time, her thoughts however were a whole different matter, she was all witty and sarcastic, an attribute that Allie was sure Cassidy inherited from living with her for most of her life, open about her thoughts and opinions and even questions. She was smart, beautiful and funny, and she's honest. So honest. She tells it as it is and Allie could always count to get the truth from her, even when the truth hurts. She was also stubborn. And they fight a lot. Raising her can be so frustrating sometimes. But Allie knew her to a fault. She was her best friend, her confidant, her family, more than that, Cassidy was everything and Aaliyah couldn't imagine her life without her, the image of her younger self, except for the green eyes. The one thing she inherited from the father.

"You know, Cassidy has very green eyes," a voice came from behind her, "Emerald green, almost," And the silence was finally broken. It seemed 48 hours of silence was more than Bradin could take on the said subject of Aaliyah's daughter which he found to have an oddly similar features or rather feature to himself, the emerald green eyes which resembled the vast sea compressed into the eye sockets they were so green and intense.

"You're not trying to scare me to death, right?" Allie asked turning around to track the tall doctor who was walking around the railing from behind to the front to face her, "Cause you do that a lot, creep up on me with a random question while I'm unaware, it's like you stealthily track me silently and wait for the exact moment to jump out at me and scare me to death, that's not your goal is it? To scare me to death?" she asked, noticing slightly that she was rambling.

"No," was all Bradin could say after receiving the earful of somewhat confusing information.

"Good, cause then this would be awkward," Allie replied.

"You mean this isn't now?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope,"

"Allie, you're gonna have to tell me you know, and you got to admit.."

"She's not your daughter, Bradin! How many times do I have to day it for you to believe that?!" she asked, frustrated.

"Look, I've decided okay, until I get truth from I'm not gonna drop it, not this time,"

"Bradin, what I'm saying is the truth," Allie insisted.

"Why on earth would I believe that?"

"Why wouldn't you?" she countered.

"I'm supposed to just believe you?"

"Yea!" Allie snapped anger rising in her so fast that she didn't notice how irrational that argument was and sounded.

After a short moment of silence, both breathing heavily and calming down slowly, "You said she wasn't my daughter," Bradin started, slowly, "Then who is she? Or whose is she?" he asked and the slight bit of anger that evaporated came back and a lot more.

"How is that your business, Bradin?" she asked, frustrated, angry and irritated with him now, her hand covered her face for a moment before moving to push her hair back resting at the sides of her head.

"It's my business if you're lying,"

"Damn it, Bradin, she's my sister, okay? You're not her father, I'm just the girl who got stuck raising her sister because her mother's a freaking child who can't deal with responsibility so you can go be the guy who marries perfect little Jenny or whoever else you wanna marry, okay?! God!" she snapped before storming off into the cold streets on Manhattan.

It was starting to get so confusing, the conflicted feelings she had, she didn't even know where the anger and rage was coming from. And was it jealousy, she felt? Thinking about blonde beautifully rich and smart Jenny? No, she had nothing to be jealous about, it's been 10 years, that was a long enough time to realize that he wasn't hers anymore, that he'd move on in his life. And there was nothing to be jealous about anyway, they were both surgeons, well, Jenny was more of on her way to being one, they were both living on a deceased parent's money, she was a brunette and Jenny was blonde, but she didn't even like being blonde anyway, they were both tall, what else was there?

And as if that wasn't enough, she was oddly disturbed by the whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing Carter had put up. He'd waltzed his way into her life again, incinerating himself into her everyday, was she worried as a doctor or as a friend, or as more than a friend? Was she falling for him again? Had she even fallen out of love with him to start with? Bradin and Carter were so similar in many ways when they first met, was it her misplaced feelings for Carter that drew her to Bradin at that time?

Aaliyah was also getting weary, so weary. With the whole running on both sides, day time mom and day time doctor as well. Cassidy was great, but Allie was wearing herself too thin, maybe it was wishful thinking that she could be both maybe she was crazy to think she could raise a kid and be a doctor at the same time. 'Gosh, I could really use a good surf right about now,' Allie thought, to let the water flush away all thoughts, and let instincts on the waves take over, riding the current seemed so much easier than life. Damn, did she wish New York was nearer to the sea.


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N This one's long overdue. All I can say is Sorry. Had to battle some personal issues and that kinda got in the way of writing for a little bit._

_Thanks for the encouraging comments thus far and staying with me._

_So to sum it all up, thanks.. And sorry._

_Anyhow, finally found the time, energy and zest to write so, enjoy.. _

**Collide**

Damn did Bradin wish New York was nearer to sea. He could really use some good surfing right about now. Jenny was right about one thing, he'd been so happy before, when life was just about surfing, the drama then didn't even come close to his life right now, sure there was the partying and the alcohol and the drugs, but now, these were big things, holding a life in your hands, getting married, having maybe fathered an illegitimate child a decade ago, talk about drama.

He turned the knob of his apartment door and seated in front of the dinning table with a bottle of wine opened and two glasses sitting affront of it was Jenny, blonde hair blue eyed and all. He had to smile. She had a way of making everything better. Less complicated. He ran and she came after him, because she didn't want to lose him, simple as that. That, he can live with. With Allie on the other hand, everything was confusing, obscure, difficult, no matter how in love they were or still are, the option he didn't want to consider anymore. She said Cassidy wasn't his, and just for the sake of it, and how angry she was, he'd believe her. 'At least some things were simple enough' he thought as he shut the door behind him, intending to enjoy his night with his fiancé, pushing all other thoughts from his mind.

It was 5 a.m. in the morning and Aaliyah crept into the patient's room, opening the door as small as possible to ensure there was minimal lighting entering the room and shut the door silently behind her. She walked on the tip of her toes to make sure the soles wouldn't collide with the floor too loudly and reached for something at the end of the bed.

"So tell me.." the soft velvety voice called out at the other end of the bed, as alluring as ever, as he turned on the lights from the side of the hospital bed.

"Do we have to do this every time I do my rounds?" Allie asked, frustrated and stumped at what to do with this persistent patient who wheedled her cross that doctor patient line at every opportunity he got which was, unfortunately, every time she had to check in on him which amounted to like 3 times a day, minimum.

"Yeah," he answered curtly as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You get some sort of a.. medieval thrill in torturing me don't you?" she asked instead of picking up the chart as she planned to earlier.

"Just the excitement of watching you squirm in your scrubs, you look awfully cute,"

"You're flirting, again, stop,"

"Why?" he whined.

"Cause I'm your doctor!" Allie insisted.

"What's the point in having this totally hot doctor when I can't flirt with her?"

"Carter!" she snapped, scolding.

"Liyah!" he mimicked her tone playfully.

"Stop!"

"Liyah!" he repeated, more urgently this time, no longer playful.

"What?"

"I can't see!" he stated as Allie saw that his eyes became unfocused.

"So, what does this recent discovery tell us?" Dr. Barrish asked, flipping through the file in her hands, all the relevant medical information of Carter O'Connell some time later out in the hall after being paged by Allie.

"Well, cardiac tumors can often mess with the brain," Ned offered nonchalantly.

"We removed it, all of it. And the tumor was benign, it didn't cause this," Allie argued, concerned that she was the only one who seemed concerned of the sudden blindness in a patient, though her concern would be as nonchalant as well if the patient was any other patient and not this particular patient.

"A tumor could create pressure behind the optic nerve, causing the blindness," Ned said instead.

"That could explain the blindness but it doesn't fit. Three unrelated tumors?" Allie asked the jerk of their interning batch.

"Coincidence?" he shrugged back.

"So what, your theory is the guy's body's a lemon? Everything's just falling apart? Yeah that's brilliant Doctor!" she snapped.

"Two of you, shut up! Cooper?" Barrish announced asking Cooper to speak up as he'd been wanting to say something in the beginning but like Paige and the resident doctor herself, got stuck to watching a tennis match of an argument between Allie and Ned.

"The tumor could have thrown a clot before we removed it, it's small so it might have been stuck somewhere harmless before dislodging itself and making it's way to the brain,"

"You heard Montgomery, the tumor was benign," Barrish stated and his brow furrowed.

"It was the tumor," Paige spoke up, "And it was a clot, just not the cardiac tumor, the brain tumor, the one we removed 6 months ago, the clot like Cooper said could have been stuck somewhere harmless for months, and then it moved, change in blood pressure, the slightest thing and it traveled to the brain,"

"That's great, clots are great, clots we can fix, so we do an Angiogram?" Allie asked her resident eagerly nodding.

"No, I will do an Angiogram and Dr. Sawyer will assist, for bickering like an 8 year old you get to do what 8 year olds do, you watch," Barrish replied before walking away from her 4 interns.

Somehow, Allie could not bring herself to even sit in the observation room to watch the simple operation. It really was easy, literally, but she couldn't sit in the observation deck even to give comfort to the dark haired male because she was afraid, What if they found nothing? What if it wasn't a clot? What if there was nothing there? What if they wouldn't be able to find out what was wrong? What if…? She couldn't bring herself to face the prospect of sitting up there, with the nerves and the fear playing the what if game, so instead she sat alone in the unused wing of the hospital on the operating floor at the far other end on an unused gurney in the dark unused corridor. She didn't know how long she was there but it wasn't till hours later when Bradin came along that she was snapped back to reality.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, leaning on the wall opposing the gurney she was sitting on crossed legged.

Aaliyah chuckled slightly, realizing how stupid it must have looked before replying, "Hiding,"

"You?" she asked.

"The same, though I think for absolutely different reasons," he replied.

And then there was a short silence, not exactly awkward, but not all that comfortable either.

"It's kinda tricky predicament," he offered out of the blue, "It's imminent but you know, I figure I can hide it out,"

"Imminent?"

"Imminent,"

"Yeah, so's death, you might wanna be a little more specific,"

"Well, you know.. Jenny," he explained and she raised an eyebrow.

"Her parents are in town, and.. They wanna talk wedding plans," he groaned closing his eyes. Allie chuckled. It was easier once you get the ball going, she realized, the whole friend thing.

"Well, it's quiet a pickle you have there if they're anything like the other rich parents in the world," she commented, knowing from the rumor till that Jennipher lived on hefty trust fund which basically meant her parents were loaded.

"Oh, and they are, hence the hiding," he offered, "What about you?"

"Uhm.. An angiogram," she stated.

"O'Connell? Wasn't that hours ago?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to avoid finding out what happened till I'm paged, but my shift ended a while ago, so I'm guessing I won't be paged and I'm to much of a coward to go find out myself hence creepy intern in dark corridor alone," she explained and Bradin chuckled instead.

"Gosh, we're such freaks," he commented.

"Well, it comes with the territory,"

"What territory?"

"The screwed up people territory, you know, me with the screwed up childhood, you with the screwed up adolescence, me with the raising the sister, you with the anal rich in laws to deal with," she summed up and it couldn't be helped, they both laughed. It wasn't anything inanely funny or untrue for that matter, but that's actually what happens when you're a grown up who slave off hundred hour weeks professionally cutting and hacking away into people's bodies.

And for that moment, they were not Drs. Westerly and Montgomery, attending and intern, or ex boy/girlfriend, just Allie and Bradin, not like before, not like what could have been. It was nothing short of easy being in each others company without the drama, without the past, without the maybe upcoming prospects of a reconciliation or fireworks and romance, just in the present, just as friends, no more no less.

Maybe they already had let go, they both thought.

_I know the story ain't going at a great direction but don't worry, more drama to come and the next one shouldn't be far along, promise! It's already half written so it'll definitely come.! Hang in there tight.. Again, sorry this one took so long._


	15. Chapter 15

_\Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N See! As promised! Okay, so it wasn't really SOON, but, soon enough?_

_So anyway, thanks for the reviews._

_And Enjoy…_

**Collide**

The good looking patient with the ashen complexion and deep dark hair lay asleep on the bed in his lavish room. And by room it was more of a suite for a dying patient. Well, they were all dying, but this one sooner than others if he didn't receive a heart transplant soon. Aaliyah was early for her evening shift and she hovered in the generously large room like a protective mother hen.

She had to remind herself that the machine in the room was giving a faint beeping consistent with a heartbeat for her to remind herself that he was just sleeping. And she resisted the urge to pull out the stethoscope to check for a heart beat herself. For some reason, Aaliyah's hand reached out to comb through his dark mane as he lay asleep, his eyes closed.

_Her hand brushed past something soft and she awoke with a terrible throbbing at the back of her head._

'_Not another one!' she thought as she was sprawled on the king sized bed and fluffy soft duvets._

_Well, at least she had a late shift that day, starting in the evening. But what about Cassidy? Allie wondered, turning to her head to eye the sleeping girl next to her, she had school. As she lay on the large soft bed like a heap of sack, she wondered if she could muster enough strength to pick up the phone. Though there was no real need as she heard the intercom buzz from a distance and Cassidy leapt out of bed before Allie could say another word._

"_Cassidy!" she called out as the little girl sprang across the room with a curt, 'I'll get it!' and then she heard from a distant the young raven haired girl merrily letting whoever it was into the building._

'_Damn it, we're gonna have to have that don't let strangers in talk again!' Allie mentally reminded herself as she pushed herself out of bed to see who it was at that hour._

"Where d'you get this?" the good looking patient asked tugging at the bracelet she had on snapping her mind out of the incident earlier that day.

"I see your eyes are fine now," she commented, drawing her hand back immediately to push a lock of hair from her head away form her face.

"Where'd you get them, they're not you," Carter asked yet again as Allie pulled away. Not a lot of people gave her jewelry as a present, because most of the time she never wore them and also because there was rarely designs or cuts that was on par with her likes.

"Why? Cause you weren't the one who gave them to me or I'm just not the kind of girl who wears jewelry?" she asked accusingly, before reaching over to push the buttons to raise the gurney for him to be more comfortable on the far other side of the bed.

Carter was one of the only few who seemed to have that same inane taste as she did, either that or he did know her that well because he was by far the only one who could get her the kinds of trinkets that she'd like, but it was not as though she wore them often. But that day she did, and it was a white gold charm bracelet, with diamond adornments along the wristlet, a present from Chris some time ago. She rarely wore jewelry let alone jewelry to work, but she figured it could hide easily under her sleeves, and since they could all use a little bit of charm and maybe luck, she threw them on, no one noticed it except for Carter, but then again, no one else had the leisure of time for details as a patient.

"Neither," he answered, "See this," he stated, fingers trailing the simple chain which she wore around her neck, with a simple shiny ring suspended below it, "This is you. It's not showy or gaudy. It's simple, elegant, beautiful, you," he finished and Allie's hands automatically went to the ring suspended at the end of the chain, she didn't like it to get in the way so she wore it long hidden under her scrubs but somehow they were hanging out at that moment.

"It's my dad's ring,"

"I know," he replied, knowingly.

"You know?"

"Yep,"

"You know?" Allie repeated her question in disbelief.

"I know," he answered as confident as ever as Allie narrowed her eyes.

"How? How did you know it was my dad's ring?" she asked hand abandoning the platinum band and settled on her hip instead.

"Your dad's wedding ring," he corrected and Allie opened her mouth to retort before closing it and furrowing her brow, wondering how he knew that and then crossed her arm looking at him questioningly.

"You told me," Carter replied, without her even having to ask the question, "Sophomore year, you came into class, with those purple converses, ratty grey Pink Floyd tee over a long sleeved white shirt, jeans, with a black coat dress over it, and that stupid ass face, and I was teasing you, for your unfortunately mismatched outfit and you snapped at me," he explained.

"You said 'Cut me some slack O'Connell, I just found my dead dad's wedding ring this morning, the ring he exchanged with one demented selfish married 3 times so far woman who didn't love him back the way he loved her,' and then you suggested for me to go perform a certain sexual intercourse on myself,"

"You remember that?" Aaliyah asked, amazed, ignoring the part where she asked him to - and the phrase she used was - 'Fuck off,'

He leaned up to her ear from the bed and whispered, "I remember everything,"

_A/N Such a rip off from Dawson's Creek….! I know! Haha.. But I loved Pacey and Joey, they were like the ultimate cutest couple ever..! And Pacey just had all these great lines.. It's a shame to not use something as sickeningly cute as that.. So forgive me for being such a cheat.. Like I said before, I'm a sucker for cute quotes.. Anyway, back to it_

Allie felt a shiver go up her spine as he leaned back and she looked into his chocolate brown eyes.

"I'm going to kiss you now," he said.

"Carter, you can't do that,"

"You can't say that and expect me not to kiss you, so.. That's exactly what I'm going to do, and if you don't want me to then you're just going to have to stop me, cause I'm gonna give you about 10 seconds to, so stop me," he said in a low voice before pausing for a moment, Allie couldn't have said anything even if she wanted to, "Ten," he whispered before leaning over and covered the gap between their lips.

Allie melted into his touch and into his kiss. They still fit, almost perfectly into each others embrace. It wasn't a heat of a moment kiss, it wasn't hungry or passionate, but simply insisted, his mouth on hers, his hand on her cheek. And then, far too soon, he pulled away, leaving Allie breathless, confused, and dazed. After the many years, he still took her breath away, even with the simplest kiss like that.

And then, before either had the chance of saying anything, her pager beeped. It was a 911 from the emergency room. Her shift hadn't officially begun yet, but once you put on your pager, you're obligated to answer a page, any page as a matter of fact and a 911 was definitely one she couldn't ignore.

"Well, you know the drill," she stated awkwardly, chuckling, and she left the room hurriedly, furtively glad that she had a reason to leave the room, or rather the patient. She really didn't know how to deal with his persistence anymore and especially when he said things like that, and did things like that. He'd wormed his way into her heart, again, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the feelings she had.

She sprinted all the way to the E.R. to find her resident barking orders at all the other 3 interns already there.

"It's a MVP, Multiple Vehicle Collision, E.R.'s backed up and they need all the hands they can get which means you!" she said to them as they pulled on the gloves and prepared for the incoming ambulance.

As the ambulances arrived and the E.R. began to bustle with activity what with gurneys of injured people being pushed around, so did the interns.

"It's almost like candy!" Paige commented, "But with blood which is so much better!" she said gleefully as the red head pushed a gurney with an unconscious man on it. He had blood splattered all over his body with no identified point of origin, it may not have even been his though he was definitely banged up pretty bad by the looks of it.

"What? You know it's true!" the red head defended herself as Allie shut the door of the trauma room unit.

Whether it was true or not, she just needed it to be a kick ass surgery, she would need a major rush to get through her 14 hours of work that day, especially after her morning.

_It was only Kati at the door, and Cassidy gleefully let her in, as per usual, Aaliyah didn't think that there was anyone whom Cassidy had met that she didn't irrevocably love, or loved her irrevocably. She was just too likable, Allie deduced and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad._

_Later, much much later, as Allie was waiting outside school with her cup of coffee in one hand, large tote bag in the other, waiting for Cassidy to get off school so she could see her off to Kati's place before work, she was approached by a good looking whom she assumed to be English by his accent._

_"Excuse me, could you help me find an Aaliyah Montgomery? There are an awful lot of parents around now,"_

_"Uhm.. Actually, that would be me, uhm.. Can I help you?" she askedawkwardly, wondering what this good looking English man would want from her. He seemed older than her, his face more worn ad more rugged; with lines emphasizing that the face had been through things and eyes has seen more than she had._

_"Of course, I knew Eleanor? Your mother?"_

_"You knew Eleanor?"_

_"Yes, we.. Met.. During her trip to London, some years ago, My name's Marcus," he stated as his intense green eyes searched her blue ones for any spark of recognition at all._

_"I see.." Allie replied slowly realization dawning on her as the bell went off and a horde of children came rushing out of the heavy set wooden doors of the school, hoping against hope that it didn't mean what she thought it meant._

_"Mummy Liyah!"_

_"This must be Cassidy," he stated more than asked as he bent over to kneel on his knee to be at the same height as the brown haired, green eyed girl. _

"John Doe, pedestrian, hit by the an SUV swerving from the accident, GSC 3, pupils fixed and dilated, Atropine given for a pulse in the 40's, BP 183 over 112, pulse ox 98 percent," Paige's short and precise summary of how the unconscious man they wheeled in earlier was doing to Bradin and Dr. Barrish, snapped her back to the present.

"Chest showed widened mediastinum," Allie added passing the film to the attending and her resident, "Head CT showed cerebral edema, he's gotten 70 of Mannitol, 10 of Dexamenathesone, and a gram of Phenytoin,"

"So we pass him to OR?" Paige asked expectantly as their resident flashed the tiny flash light to check for reaction to stimuli.

"No," Bradin replied instead after putting down the films.

"No?" Paige repeated, somewhat crestfallen sounding.

"Do an EEG and confirmatory tests, if he doesn't respond in six hours.." his voice trailed off.

"Declare him," Barrish finished the sentence for him instead, before walking out of the room.

Disappointed that it wasn't a surgical case, Paige sauntered out of the room after her resident like a sick puppy.

"Declare him?"

"Brain dead,"

"I know, I just.. We're not gonna do anything?"

"That's the hard part, to stand around as surgeons and not do anything," Bradin said with a sigh signing of the chart of the on the way to being brain dead, or probably even already there, guy.

"An hour ago, he was out there, alive.. Look at him," Allie said, gesturing at the comatose patient, "He belongs to someone, somewhere, we can't just stand here and watch him die,"

"You took an oath, do no harm," he replied instead, placing down the chart, "That's what it means, let it go, Als,"

"But if we can find out who he is," she started saying but he cut her off.

"What is that going to change?"

"I'm not going to stand here and watch him die, it's.. It's a waste of life," Allie argued.

"Do you think it's a waste of life or do you think it's a waste of organs?" he countered and she crossed her arms, biting her lower lip, looking, she was sure, guilty as hell, "I was once an intern too," Bradin stated.

"He's an O neg, Carter's O neg, do you know how hard it is to find a match like that?"

"So this is not about you wanting in on an organ harvest surgery?" he asked, crossing his arms too.

"No,"

"Or being in O'Connell's transplant?"

"No!" she replied throwing her hands up.

"Huh," he said airily.

"What?" Allie snapped loosing her cool.

"If you said yes, I would have actually considered allowing you to do this, but you said no,"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're getting to emotionally attached to the patient again,"

There was a pause. A long pause as they just stood there and stared at each other, neither backing down, standing their ground firmly.

"I'm a surgeon," Allie started saying but he cut her off.

"So am I, Allie, and as surgeons, we save lives, this man is already dead,"

"Then why not save others with his organs?"

And then there was another pause.

"If you can find the family, and if they consent, IF they consent, then we'll do it, but only if," he stressed the last syllable before walking out of the room.


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_**A/N** Oops.. Took long. Sorry. My lap top has been a total spaz. _

_It got infected by a virus, but it couldn't detected the virus so it went around infecting all my thumbs till I figured out it was my com and there was a reason that it'd been slow and totally retarded. So anyway, I notice I'm a little behind on replying my reviewers so: _

_**JustTheGirl07 **: It'd be a great idea, except.. Well.. Mostly cause if it is Bradin's, he'd feel obligated to choose her but it shouldn't be an obligation, or more of I'm sure we ALL don't want them to end up together because of him feeling responsible for Cassidy._

_For him to choose Allie over Jenny, someone he's fallen in love with in the time in between, would and should take more than just a feeling of duty and responsibility though he would do it because it's the righteous thing to do and he's an adult now, but the thing is, that's not gonna be a good reason for them to end up together again now would it.? Cause I think if they get back together it should be for reasons other than that._

_**6Ellie6 **: Haha, sorry, got the hints, but like I said, lap top was a total spaz.. Anyway, we'll al find out soon. Really soon, as in if you scroll down now and read it soon.. xD_

_**ShiaLover09 **: I know! I am too.. Haha, it was random, but it was to emphasize the whole Allie-moving-on-with-her-life thing.. Thanks, and here's the update, maybe you can do the same with yours.? hint hint.. Haha.._

_**angel-prncess-18 **: Well, call me weird, but the eerily predictable storyline and plots just seem I dunno, dry? Boring? Lifeless? It's just so classic when you can just tell what's gonna happen and everything s straightforward and easy. It's nice and all, pleasant but after a while, it becomes a little humdrum right? Well anyway, I'm glad you like my weird confusing ways.! Haha.._

_**x-x-Dreamer'93-x-x** : New Reader! Yay! Thanks, love that you're loving it so far.! And totally love that you're reviwing! Hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you! Enjoy!_

_Okay, that's about it, so here's the next one._

**Collide**

Aaliyah and Paige were in the locker room, ready to get off their shift and she stood in front of her locker checking her cell phone for messages, texts or anything that she missed while being on shift. As hard as she tried though, she could not ignore it when a particular loud intern banged into the locker room. "What's that smell?" Ned asked, gloating, with arrogance in his voice and stamped onto his forehead as he entered the changing room, "That smell, wait, I think.. It's coming from me,"

Allie looked away from Ned in his scrubs gloating with his hands in the air like some world champion and reverted her energy, or what's left of it to her cell.

One of her messages read :

_"Will be at hospital's cafeteria. Want to talk about Cassidy after your shift."_

"Oh God, I sense a gloat coming along," Paige said under her breath and left the changing room. Having to hover over the brain dead guy for half the day as Allie tried to find out who he was and how to get hold of his family, they had both lost a chance of a surgical case, a heart surgery and to everyone's dismay, the one who got it was Ned, the very Ned the jerk.

"It's the smell of an open heart surgery. Ho Yeah!" he cheered as he pumped his fist into the air yet again, "Come on, just get a whiff, you know you want to," he continued as he pressed up against Allie's back as she stood in front of her opened her locker, clean, showered, changed and ready to go home.

"Fuck off, Ned, I am not in the mood to play nice!" she sniped at him slamming her locker door shut.

"Come on, you know you want to," he crooned. And she just snapped. Turning around, Aaliyah pushed her annoying arrogant colleague against the row of lockers behind him.

"I have way more important things to deal with than you, okay?! I have work problems and boy problems and family problems!" she holding him up against the locker by her fist balled up holding the cuff of his scrubs, "You wanna act like a total frat boy bitch, fine! Just stay out of my face!" she yelled, and before letting go, "And just for the record, you smell like crap, like you always do!" Aaliyah yelled shoving him backwards, effectively slamming his toned body against the locker with a loud bang.

She then walked away from him and exhaled deeply closing her eyes, head in her hands.

"She attacked me," Allie heard Ned say and her head shot to the door where Bradin stood in a sky blue shirt and black slacks, with an expression of shock on his face. He got out of his scrubs rather quick, Allie thought, but then again, he wasn't like some other person in the room waiting to go around to gloat about being in an open heart surgery, "Couldn't help herself," he added and with that, Allie snapped, launching herself at him again, only to be held back by Bradin.

"I suggest you leave before she actually manages to beat you to a pulp, okay? Okay," Bradin said to Ned pushing him out of the changing room before slamming the door at his face. He sighed at the door before turning around to see Allie staring at him intensively.

"What?"

"I-" she started saying before sighing and changing in mid sentence, "Nothing.. I just.. Nothing," she said picking up her bag, "I'm tired okay, I'm.. I'm tired, I'm just.. I'm tired.." she said and threw her bag over her shoulder before walking out of the changing room, leaving him alone in the locker room, confused and stunned by what just happened.

On her way out a voice crept up behind her and stopped her on the spot.

"Did you not get my message?"

"I did.. I just thought if I'd ignored it you'd go away," she sighed.

"Aaliyah-" he started saying.

"You can't take her from me," she cut him off instead, "I won't let you," she insisted staring into his intense green eyes, not willing to back down or give up.

"She needs a family," he merely stated, but to her, it sounded like an accusation more than anything.

"I am. Her family!" she snapped back angrily, enunciating every word as if she was talking to a mentally handicapped.

"I'm her father,"

"And I'm her mother!" she countered.

"Cassidy needs a family,"

"I am her family! We've been doing fine all these years without her actual mother and father in the picture, and we'll continue doing fine, Marcus," she stopped for a breathe as her eyes filled up with tears, "I won't let you take my sister from me,"

"You're a doctor, a surgeon, and you're just leaving work, at 2 am in the morning, you work hundred hour weeks, every week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year, and you go home and you play mom to your 9 year old sister, you deserve a life, Aaliyah, your 27, being a mother should not be something you have to do," he tried to reason with her.

"It's not something I have to do," she explained, correcting him, "It was something I had to do at 19 because my mom didn't care, you didn't care -" she continued but he cut through her sentence.

"I didn't know,"

"But now you do, and now I'm not the girl who dropped out of med school to mother her sister because she has to, I'm the girl who wants to do this, and I will not let you take her from me,"

"You're the girl who loves her sister, I get that, but I'm a father who wants a chance of loving his daughter, Aaliyah, is it really so selfish for me to want my daughter?"

Allie sighed, fighting back tears.

"Think about it," he stated and turned around to leave, leaving Allie in the corridor alone with her thoughts.

She thought of how Her father was taken from her before his time and how she would have given up anything to have him not be dead, how she hated, and still did hate Eleanor for it. She didn't want to but she probably had to let Marcus take her, he was her father and he wanted his daughter and she would never win that fight, even if she was Cassidy's legal guardian. Allie closed her eyes and exhaled allowing the heavy breath blown out to carry away the thoughts of the inevitable before turning around to leave, mind made up, when she saw that she was not so alone in the corridor after all.

Another tall male with green eyes stood in front of her.

Bradin.

Both stood there in stunned silence for a moment before one had the courage to break the silence. "Allie-" he started saying but she cut him off.

"I can't right now, okay, Bradin, please," she said as she walked pass him. She didn't know how long he'd been standing there or how much he'd heard but she was willing to bet that either way she was not going to like dealing with it. And so she ended up roaming the hospital instead of headed home, and landed outside Carter's lavish hospital 'suite' as she called it for some reason. She stood there for a long long moment, before announcing her presence. It was late, but when you're a patient who was waiting on a heart transplant surgery where you could very possibly die on the table, you loose your appetite for sleep, as other things occupied the mind.

"You can't die," Aaliyah stated.

Looking up to the door away from the window which he'd been staring out of for some time, stunned, he looked confused for a moment before saying, "What?"

"You can't die," she repeated.

"Liyah-" he started saying but she cut him off.

"Because if you die, I am gonna drag your ass back here from hell and I will kill you myself," she stated walking into the room on the verge of tears now for reasons that she didn't know. Maybe it was her mind going on overdrive in light of all recent events, she didn't know, and it felt good to let it out.

"Liyah-" he started again but never got to finish his sentence yet again as she cut him off.

"If you die, I will never never never forgive you!" she ranted.

"For dying?"

"For making me love you! For making me fall for you, again, and then dying, so you can't die,"

"You love me?"

"Yes, I love you, okay, I love you, I always have, you know that, so promise me," she insisted, on the verge of tears.

"That I won't die?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes!"

"Okay,"

"Okay what?"

"Okay, I promise," Carter replied, good naturedly and Allie inhale sharply before breathing out a sigh of what sounded oddly like relief, which also stopped the pool of tears forming in her misty blue eyes to trickle down her cheek.

"Good," she whispered as she sat on the bed next to him.

"Good," he repeated, mimicking her tone, smiling.

"Good," Allie said yet again before placing both her hands on his cheek and exhaling before wrapping her hands around him, pulling him into a hug, burying her head into the crook of his shoulder.

"Hey, look," Carter stated, "Still fits," and Allie chuckled before pulling away, "So you gonna tell me what responsible for this outburst?" he asked and Allie took a breath before exhaling. It was nice to know that he really did know her that well, it was comforting, almost assuring to her that she really was in love with him.

"I have to let her go," she muttered, tears forming in her orb like almost grey eyes as they met his chocolate brown ones.

"Who? Cassidy? Wait, go where?" he asked.

"Marcus," she replied with a sigh, too tired and worn out to remember that he didn't know the whole story.

"Marcus who?" Carter prodded slowly, not frustrated, or annoyed or the slightest bit irritated that she didn't give much explanation, it didn't take a genius to figure out she was exhausted. Allie sighed and as she curled up him on the bed, "Marcus Cassidy's dad that's Marcus who," she explained unloading everything that haunted her.


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Hullo people, I am back! Wakakakaka.. cackles evilly.._

_**JustTheGirl07**__ : I don't know to be happy or sad that Allie resembles you in so many ways, but I'm glad you're loving the story still. You've stuck with me from the start really, and I appreciate it, as well as all your suggestions, they always give me such inspiration. And I agree, they do seem to have forgotten how their love was like, but don't worry, it's all part of my master plan.. Wakakakakaka… cackles evilly.. Haha.._

_**x-x-Dreamer'93-x-x **__: That's good then, but just so people don't start throwing stuff at me, here's the next chapter! xD_

_**6Ellie6 **__: Hmm.. Will they get back together? We'll see.. I've a lot more in store for them. wink wink hint hint.. Haha.. But if anything, I think you'll find that in some weird twisted way of mine, they've a better shot at getting back together now, with Bradin having this new better understanding of the person Allie's grown into._

_**angel-prncess-18 **__: I'm glad you like the drama, cause more will ensue, trust me, cause I'm just getting started.. dun dun dun. Haha.. But yeah, I'm sure a lot of us are torn between Carter and Bradin now that I've humanized him. In Chemicals React he wasn't really given much expansion and he was the one who ruined it all, but as much as we love him now, there's still a part of us all who wants Allie to end up with Bradin.. Right? _

_**acciodanrad9**__ : Whoa! You are officially the most faithful reviewer Efer! Haha, I thought hotmail went nuts when I opened my e mail the other day. Thanks, really, it got me motivated to complete and update this one. As for all the questions, all in good time my friend, all in good time. I can't say right now, cause, I mean really, you don't want me to ruin the whole journey now do you? wink.._

_**ShiaLover09 : **__Oh, I totally get what you mean with the whole school and college thing. It really gets in the way doesn't it? Well, I finally got enough energy to update and have the new chapter up so here it is!_

_Haha, so anyways, I've given my whole story a read through and I realized that I've totally been ignoring Bradin now haven't I? I mean, he's become more of one of those special appearances instead of the main cast, so to make it up, this is what I call the Bradin chapter. Yay! applause! Hahahahaha.. _

**Collide**

The hot water sprayed from the shower head in jets of soothing waves.

_"It's not something I have to do,"_

Her words rang in his head, as clear as a bell.

_".. and I will not let you take her from me,"_

That was what she said. So he wasn't Cassidy's father after all. He thought he'd feel good, relieved even, maybe, but he didn't. It didn't feel half the way it should have. And instead of clearing things up, it seemed to have messed things up worse.

_".. and now I'm not the girl who dropped out of med school to mother her sister because she has to, I'm the girl who wants to do this, and I will not let you take her from me,"_

Somehow, hearing her say that was what made things worse, in ways that even he didn't understand. He turned off the hot water and stepped out of the shower. He rubbed his blonde hair dry roughly with a towel and he stared into the fogged up mirror, mirroring his muddled up mind and thoughts. "Hey babe," another voice greeted him as he exited the bathroom and entered the bedroom. Another rush of emotion.

He smiled, unconvincingly before crawling into bed next to her, but she didn't notice.

What was that? Guilt? Affection? Guilt ridden affection? He couldn't quiet tell anymore. As he pulled the sheets over himself and the beautiful blonde who settled in comfortably under the covers next to him.

_".. and now I'm not the girl who dropped out of med school to mother her sister because she has to,"_

That was what Allie had said. She wanted Cassidy. Between juggling hundred hour weeks and an almost non-existent social life thanks to it, she chose to adopt Cassidy as her own daughter. Bradin couldn't fathom it himself, because Marcus was right, she was 27, with her whole life ahead of her, and she didn't mind side tracking it all to raise her sister. Her sister! And what he didn't get most was the whirlwind of emotion that came attached to this piece of information. The feelings was oddly unsettling and it became, if it was even possible, worse, when Jenny cuddled closer to him under the sheets and found a comfortable spot laying her head and the locks of her soft blonde hair on his chest. He let his arm wrap around her as her hand found his and she laced their fingers together before drifting off steadily to sleep.

But once again, sleep eluded him.

_"I'm the girl who wants to do this,"_

Once again, the girl whose kiss chased away sleep when he wanted those waking hours to end all those years ago haunted his waking mind and he found it terribly difficult to drift off to the land of nod, not with his mind so full of thoughts. Thought of her, and what Her thoughts were, and if she felt the same complexity and convolution he felt, the whirlwind of emotions he experienced.

Once again, Aaliyah's presence in his life brought about more changes and complication and sleep deprivation.

Once again, his wayward tired mind began forming questions. More questions than answers. More confusion than clarity. More emotions than stoicism when he wanted it so badly.

It shouldn't feel like this. Except that it did. He thought he'd come to terms with the fact that they weren't together anymore, but the rush of emotions that swept through him now, there and then as the thoughts of each kiss, each touch they shared, the stolen moments back when they were 2 kids hiding their relationship from the world, seemed to prove otherwise.

_"I'm the girl who wants to do this,"_

'And I'm the guy who wants to marry the girl in my arms,' he thought to himself firmly, stopping himself from going any further with his thought. Bradin wasn't quiet sure he wanted to know where they'd end up. 'Stop thinking about Aaliyah!' he inwardly scolded himself and with that firmly placed, he closed his eyes again, determined this time to go to sleep, concentrating on the image of the ceiling before shutting his eyes. 'You have a fiancé, you love her and you want t marry her,' he thought determinedly and shut his eyes. 'Or do you?' And with that his eyelids snapped back open.

Jenny shifted slightly in his arms in midst of her peaceful sleep and Bradin looked down at his fiancé.

Bradin wonders if life could get anymore complicated.

Much much later, at the crack of dawn the next morning, Bradin stood in front of the OR with his hands crossed across his chest, studying the board with a slight frown on his face. He was scheduled to do the harvest on the not so John Doe anymore, since Allie found family to give consent for his organ donations, who was involved in the multi vehicle pile up the day before. Bradin would have to perform the surgery removing all vital organs from his body and finally his heart, ultimately killing the brain dead man before rushing over to the next operating room to transplant the very same heart into Carter, which he had very mixed feelings about what with his relationship with Allie all those years ago, and their effed up relationship now.

He stood there, staring at the board, deep in thought.

_It was dark and they both ran out from the sand and onto the road, laughing like lunatics, looking like lunatics too he was sure, soaking wet in their bathing suits, holding on to way too much clothes for just the 2 of them, barefoot with the other arm wrapped around their surf boards at the same time._

_"You can talk me into anything," Bradin stated still laughing, dropping everything in his hands onto the ground in a heap before plunking himself down on the high concrete curb separating the sidewalk from the beach, grateful for the respite, he was feeling a little light headed, whether it was from the adrenaline of stealing Chase and his date's clothing while they were getting it on leaving them pretty much naked in the waters or from the extensive run after being spotted or just being in Allie's presence he'll never know._

_"Well, as I recall it didn't take much persuading now did it?" she said equally out of breathe from laughing and running while pulling on his button up shirt. Normally he'd complain, but he was too out of breathe and it did look better on her, so he didn't, instead he just watched her under the orange-yellow glow of the street lamp and realizing not for the first time how pretty his girl was, her skin so fair that was almost translucent, her light blue eyes behind the thick lashes, her soft kissable lips. The lips that managed to talk him into a midnight swim which was when they incidentally spotted one Chase and floozy bimbo making out in the water, naked, before talking him into grabbing the couple's abandoned clothes and running like a lunatic when they were spotted._

_Allie could be very audacious at times, he noticed and it was such a Sarah like thing to do, and under normal circumstances, he'd be reminded of her, and wondering where she was, what she was doing with all the money she stole before running away and such, but at that moment, he couldn't think of anything but the girl in front of him. His lips pulled to a small smile, he really like the way she wore his shirt, with the sleeves folded up and pushed up to her elbows, and the way it fell to a lot above the knee._

_"What?" she asked with a smile, planting her hands on her hips, curious as to what he was looking at so intentively._

_"Nothing," he answered, chuckling, placing his hands on her waist and pulled her closer. And then they melted into one another slowly, mouths and bodies fused under the cloudless starry sky. Bradin felt himself sinking back onto the curb, drawing Allie down onto his lap,_ _his skin was on fire for the touch of hers; his fingers crept under the hem of his shirt she had on, moving along her belly, inching upward –_

_And then a sharp, piercing wail of a police siren jolted them both back to reality. _

_Allie's head snapped back and her eyes searched the surroundings. For one awful moment, Bradin thought they'd been spotted by a late night patrolman. Probably some jerk of a cop, too, who would demand to know what two kids were doing out so late, alone, and who would insist on driving them home, waking the entire household wreaking havoc and confusion he was sure and anger too in Ava and Johnny's part._

_Luckily the sirens seem to have been from several miles away and they both burst out laughing once again._

_"Maybe we should go," Allie suggested, leaping up from his lap._

_"Yeah," he agreed, getting up as well. Bradin didn't want to tempt fate by staying out to be caught, especially after their little robbery, and also, he was getting a little to excited out on the street, especially with Allie._

"You don't seem too stoked," a voice came from behind him, snapping him out of his thoughts. The very same voice that haunted his waking hours generously contributing to even less sleep than when he had to begin with. He thought he was delusional when he turned around and Allie's beautiful face was there inches before his. She was different. So different, the way she looked, the way she carried herself, the little bits of her personality, but at the same time she was still exactly the same, in ways that he couldn't explain.

"I never liked harvests," he stated looking away from her, "I'm a surgeon, I save lives, this ends one," he said with a sigh uncrossing his arms before turning to walk away.

"What happened to 'this man's already dead?'" she asked in an undertone as Bradin walked past her to prepare for his surgeries.

And it wasn't soon before he was all ready and prepared to enter the operating room. It was almost irresponsible for him to operate this unfocused, his head elsewhere, but he was cutting out organ from a man who was already brain dead, he could hardly kill him more than once now can he? The surgery went by without a hitch and finally he removed the heart of the man and rushed to the Operating Room beside it where Carter lay unconscious on the table, ready for his brand new heart.

Instinctively, Bradin looked up to the observation deck and searched the faces. There were several surgical residents and interns who were free enough to sit in on this watching attentively - a live heart transplant wasn't something that came by every day, yet, he couldn't find the face he was looking for. He looked back down at the patient on the operating table.

_"Johnny had his chance Nik, and he blew it. Big time,"_

Bradin's own voice from all those years now rang in his head as though he said those venomous words just yesterday on the beach, trying to reason with his sister who was flipping out over Simon and Ava's who getting married bomb. He remembered even going as far as to call Johnny a pathetic loser. It was mean and a terrible thing to say, but it was true, and now being in the same situation, he still felt the truthfulness of his words. He had his chance and he blew it. Bradin blew it big time and it wasn't fair to want her back now, to want to take away her new found happiness, even if it was in the hands of someone else.

"Doctor?" the eager red headed intern prodded him and at that moment, with his mind strongly made up, Bradin yanked his head back down from the clouds.

"Let's get this man healthy," he commented as before putting Carter on bypass, beginning the surgery.


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Sorry this one took so long, had this long trip in Europe which was great, btw, and came home to my lap top which was effed up by virus and I had other issues to deal with as well. Joys of a teenage girl. Yay! *Sigh.. So all those resulted in this long overdue and seriously late update. Sorry. _

_Thanks for the reviews __**JustTheGirl07, angel-prncess-18, 6Ellie6, ShiaLover09, acciodanrad9 **__and all of you for still reading, once again, I am terribly sorry, love you guys, and you cannot begin to understand how sorry I am for leaving this hanging.. But at any rate, you'll forgive me right, I mean now that I'm finally delivering this long awaited next chapter.. Heh Heh.. _

_Enjoy.._

**Collide**

Aaliyah tried to walk nonchalantly pass Carter's room again but to no avail. It was clear for anyone with half a brain that she was dying to see the patient within to even stir. She had not been able to sit through watching the surgery, instead she spent it down at the clinic, and sped up all 3 floor when she heard he was out of surgery and breathed a sigh of release when they said it went well.

"You know walk pass here once more and I swear to God you'd make a hole on the floor," Cooper commented.

"I just.. Need him to wake up, okay, I.. I need to know his damned new heart is working," she stated less than articulately, crossing her arms in front of her chest and leaning on the counter outside the room, "He's doing this on purpose," she snapped suddenly, "He is doing this on purpose to stress me out, I mean, the anesthesia's supposed to have worn out like what? An hour ago? He is doing this on purpose!" she insisted.

"God?" Cooper asked, confused, putting his patient's chart down.

"Carter!"

"Right…"

"No, I'm serious, this is so Carter,"

"If you need to know so bad, go read his chart,"

"I have,"

"Uh huh.." Cooper stated, teasing, "So basically you need the patient to wake up cause HE'LL know better than the doctors who write in his chart if his new heart is working,"

"Oh shut up," she replied, annoyed.

"Okay, come here,"

"What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him, suspicious.

"Just come over here," he demanded and Cooper then placed his hands on her neck before gently pressing on her pressure points, "You are way too stressed out,"

"I am not stressed.." she started saying but she interrupted herself with an abrupt, "Ow!~"

"You were saying?" he asked, as he continued rubbing her stiff neck.

"Oh, quit gloating," Allie replied but then her eye caught movement from within Carter's room and she bounded away from Cooper and the soothing neck rub into Carter's room.

"Hey," she said cheerily, "You're up,"

"Yea, I'm up.. " he replied, "Who was that fondling you?" he asked, squinting out the door.

"What are you jealous?"

"Jealous," he scoffed, "I.. Yeah," he stated and Allie smiled.

"He is Cooper," Allie explained looking out the door before moving towards his bed, "He's gay,"

"A little better,"

"And that's his boyfriend right there," Allie stated as Cooper began giving a rather affectionate and intimate neck rub to Pete, the nurse who arrived and placed down a file.

"Much better.." Carter slowly said and Allie chuckled before leaning in to give him a peck on his lips.

"A lot better," he stated as she pulled away.

"Hmm.. That's what I thought,"

"You know what will make me all better though," he commented suggestively, "I mean, I've this whole, great new heart that beats and works fine what with regulating blood to all parts of my body,"

"Mmm.." Allie played along for a moment, "But you don't want to be needing a new one too quickly now would you?" she teased, "So I suggest you take it slow for a bit,"

"Aww.. Come on,"

Allie couldn't help it, he even threw in the puppy eyes and he looked to sickeningly cute even in a hospital bed and flimsy hospital gown with a she was sure, still sore chest with a long scar running along it, she leaned over for another kiss, a longer one, the one that he wanted. After a minute, she pulled away and..

"Marry me,"

"What?" she asked as her eyes snapped open. Did she hear him wrong or did he just..

"I asked you to marry me, Liyah,"

"You can't want to marry me.. You're.. You just can't.." Allie stuttered.

"I do, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to have my children with you, I want you to be the one I wake up next to and go to sleep with and do everything in between with, I want you, Aaliyah-Jayne Montgomery, I want you,"

Allie opened her mouth to say something but no words came out.

"What I'm saying is I love you," he said for clarification, not that any was actually needed.

She stared into his chocolate brown eyes, holding his sincere loving gaze. It was right, it felt so right, but so wrong at the same time. And at that moment she looked away, breaking their gaze, conflicted, confused, deep in thought. She turned back to look at him and opened her mouth to speak. But again, silence was all that came when words were supposed to be formed. Allie closed her mouth yet again and stood up from the bed, brow furrowed, looking to the right again, seemingly shocked, and deep in thought.

"This is the part where you say something," the mildly amused Carter said.

Again she didn't reply.

Never mind the fact that it felt so right. Never mind her first thought was to say yes. Never mind her second thing that surfaced in her mind was Bradin face. He can't just propose to her like that. He can't. He just came out of a heart transplant for god's sake! And she was just getting used to having him back in her life, and loving him, just getting used to living without that 9 year old brown hair green eyed girl who consumed almost a decade of her life, and he was asking her to marry him? And spend the rest of her life with him? And have his children?! It was a bit much, a bit too much. And that is being very generous with the term a little. It was a lot a lot. Too much for her to take.

"Liyah?" his voice sliced through the silence and knocked her out of her daze.

"I.. " Allie managed to croak when she looked back at him, "Have.. stuff to do," she finished, somewhat inadequately and awkwardly before backing out of the door and hyperventilating in the doorway.

"Oh, just get over yourself already!" Kati snapped at her unexpectedly over the cell.

"What?" Allie asked in confusion. She'd just spent her self given 15 minute break on the phone in the stairway ranting to Kati about Carter and how he was being unfair and had no right to propose to her.

"You want all those, you want everything that he's saying, you're just too afraid of it to admit or say I love you back,"

"Kat, what are you talking about?"

"Alls, I've watching you for a lot of years now and the only time I've ever seen you get that remotely close to anyone was with Carter and he crushed you," Kati continued without missing a beat, "From then on, you've just been pushing people away and sabotaging every relationship that you have had an actual shot at and honestly, I was surprised you let Bradin in that far, but you damned that one to hell soon enough anyway, and you then you pushed Connor away, repeatedly, until he gave up, and now you're doing it again, with Carter, you said you loved him, you said you loved him before he went into surgery, you said it because you were afraid you were gonna loose him, and now, he's out of surgery and he's alive, and you can't say the three words, you won't say that eight letters, because the truth is, you're scared, you're more afraid now than ever because now you can't loose him but he can just break your heart again, and you're scared as hell, you're scared and you won't admit it," she scolded, summarizing efficiently her insight on the whole situation Allie was in.

Allie responded the only way she knew. In silence as realization sunk in.

"My break's over," she said blankly before snapping her cell shut.

Standing at the door, Aaliyah had absolutely no idea what to say. There he was, sitting up on his bed looking out the window, deep in thought when she walked in. Well, not quiet, she stood at the doorway and waited. For what exactly she didn't know. She braced herself when he magically noticed her stone cold unmoving presence at the doorway and turned to look at her. Awkwardly, Allie stepped into the room and decided to start with the obvious, "I'm sorry I ran out on you like that," she began, "But I mean, I.. Don't want to get married right now," she explained, feeling somewhat guilty for running out on him.

"Okay," came to a reply. One word. No more no less. But he might as well have said nothing as Allie launched into rambling mode.

"I mean I'm practically married to my job right now, I work hundred hour weeks, I barely have time to sleep let alone eat or get married," Allie went on.

"Okay,"

Again. One word. His nonchalance was worse than anything else.

"And I don't even want to think about having children yet, I just had to send Cassidy away, to Marcus and.. I just can't,"

"Okay," Carter replied again patiently through her almost incoherent words she was talking so fast.

"I mean I do want to, I'd love to, but with Cassidy and this job.."

"Okay,"

And Aaliyah was going to go on again when instead she said, "Can you say anything other than.." before stopping herself, "What I mean to say is, I don't want to do all those, I do, but not yet," she finished.

"Okay,"

"But I want to," Allie stated quickly, "I do, really, just not now, but I want to," she continued, "And I do love you," she said almost having to force the words out, "Really," she managed to say with some degree of conviction. It wasn't that she didn't mean it, because she did, but the last time she felt that way about him, well, crushing would have been pleasant way of phrasing what he did to her heart. Kati was absolutely right. She was afraid, she was petrified. The last two times she felt that way, once even with this very same man, she'd had way more experience of heart being ripped out and grounded into shreds pain than she'd like. And having to pick up the pieces and put them back together again wasn't exactly what one would call fun. So she was afraid, she was absolutely positively 100 percent petrified.

"Well.. That's a start," he responded with a smile with words other than 'okay' for the first time and Allie chuckled slightly before sitting onto his bed next to him, "And just for the record, one day you will marry me, at the rate of how we got here, it might take 30 to 40 years but you will be Mrs. Carter O'Connell someday,"

"Okay," she replied teasingly with a chuckle.

And then something cold slid into her right ring finger.

"Just some insurance," Carter muttered and he closed the gap between their lips.

Not too far away all this was witnessed by a blonde haired green eyed heart surgeon at the door.

_A/N Not my best job I'll admit, but it'll suffice right? _

_Oh, and sorry, I know dropping the whole Cassidy's already gone bomb is kinda abrupt and unseen but there was supposed to be this whoo-oo-ole other chapter to it which I got impatient writing it cause it was taking so long to write and I felt that it was veering too far away from the plot so I scratched it, you'll forgive that it's only gonna be a flashback right?_

_But anyhow.. Reviews are loved an adored, as per always, so click that little button I say~! You know you want to.. Haha.._

_xOxO_

_mAnomaly_


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N I'm ba-a-a-ack..! Yay! I know.. Sorry, my life's just been a whole lot of crazy lately with assignments and finals and other personal issues. Like I said before, joys of being a teenage girl. Whop-ee-do. _

_But anyway, I'm back, and I promise not to flake out and not update for like a zillion years again.. I've pretty a lot on my plate right now, but I will be able to update by the end if next week, latest, cause the next ones already half written out.. But I digress, point is, I'm back and to compensate, this one's a sufficiently long chapter to seek your forgiveness.. xD_

_And I know I know, we're all getting a little bored with the Allie and Bradin's do-I-still-love-him/her-or-do-I-love-Jenny/Carter dance and you're probably thinking, oh good God! Just get them back together already! Yes? Well, sorry to say, this one's another one of those. It's sort of a filler honestly, but they share a moment here, albeit a short one, and if you don't read this chapter, or at least the end of it, you're gonna be a little lost in the next one. Well, actually you will be a little lost regardless but you will be MORE lost if you don't.._

_Okay, I'm rambling, I'm gonna just shut up and let you get to it.._

**Collide**

Bradin stood at the door as the love of his life in the arms of someone else. He saw something catch the light in his hand which slid into her ring finger and watched just enough before turning to leave. He didn't know how he felt about this. But she wasn't his anymore. Of that he was sure. As he stalked off contemplating if it was the right thing to do, a pair of small hands covered his eyes from behind and a pair of lips covered his lips.

"Hey you," the familiar voice said and he smiled in response as the hands uncovered his eyes. Jenny stood before him, out of her scrubs and ready to head home, there were many days where their shifts coincided, that day was not one of them, and he was somewhat secretly glad, "So I'm heading home now, you wanna get a cup of coffee first?" she asked sweetly, "You'll need it, 12 more hours to go," she reminded him and he had to force himself to smile before giving a reply, "I can't, babe, I'm sorry, I uh.. Have to check in on a couple of patients," he lied immaculately. She accepted but not without a pout which would have reduced him to feeling guilty just a month before and she gave him another peck before leaving.

"Oh, and remember to pen down our dress shopping date next week," Jennifer his fiancée reminded him sweetly before stepping into the elevator and waving at him, he waved at her and the door closed. Bradin sighed after the elevator door closed and snapped the blonde beauty out of view. A month ago, he would have jumped at any opportunity to spend time with her and gladly spend 30 minutes or an hour if he could get away with it drinking a cup of bad coffee as he wasted his time nuzzling his fiancée and flirting, but now he almost dreaded the little time they spent together. It wasn't because he didn't want to spend it with her, it was just the fact that Jenny was Jenny, as simple and as complicated as that. His mind isn't focused much and he was afraid that maybe she'd see that, or that maybe she'd know the reason behind him being spaced out.

That's ridiculous, he told himself, I love her. Jennifer was everything he wanted, cute as a button, sweet, smart, sensible and smoking hot too. So what the problem was, he didn't know, though he did know that Jenny couldn't be more different from Allie. Although they had some similar attributes, they couldn't be more poles apart, Jenny was sweet, Allie was sassy, Jenny had the easy life growing up, Allie had a tough one, Jenny was easily swayed, Allie was stubborn, intractable even, alike was one thing they were not, he of all people knew. And maybe that was what attracted him to Jenny in the first place, because they were so different. And because they were so different, Bradin was so sure that he did love Jenny.

Yes, he decided, he did love her. And Bradin was going to marry her and spend his life with Jenny because it was the right thing to do, because he gave his word when he gave her the ring, and he was going to stand by it. Because Allie was no longer his, and he should get used to it. He screwed up and it was time they both moved on with their lives.

_"Just some insurance," Carter muttered and closed the gap between their lips._

_Aaliyah couldn't have stopped him even if she tried as she was still stunned by ring that now sat on her ring finger._

_As Carter pulled away she shook her head disbelievingly, "How..?" she started staring at the - what she assumed to be - platinum band which held a - in her opinion - beautifully cut diamond Volkswagen. "When did you even find time to.. buy a ring?" she asked, still breathless, whether it was from the kiss, or the ring, she'd never know, but she did know that the ring was probably worth more than the average person's year salary._

_"I didn't," came to a quick reply, complete with the patented and Allie looked up at him from the ring confused before looking back down at the ring. Carter raised an eyebrow, almost as if to say 'Get there faster!' and that she did, "Is this.. your mom's ring?" Allie asked, realization dawning upon her._

_"The one and only," he smirked._

Allie's eyes opened in a hazy cocoon of happiness. It was the only the eight time ever that year which she did not wake up with an erratic nine year old jumping on her bed, but that wasn't the reason for her happiness. She looked down at her ring finger.

That. Was the reason.

The events of the past week swam back into her mind wrapping her in a cloud of contentment. The past week had been good, she thought to herself dreamily. More than good, they'd been great. She got engaged to her first love. The love of her life, she was sure now, because it had lasted 7 days more than the last time Carter professed his love to her. She web-cammed with Cassidy in London, twice, and all in all, she seemed to be liking her new life there very much, though she was a little home sick. And Allie also got in on some pretty kick ass surgeries in the past 7 days and the day off that day. And Carter was going to check out of the hospital that day which meant she didn't need to sit next to his bed at the hospital when she wanted to see him. Life was good. She couldn't remember the last time she woke up with enough sleep and happy with the turn of events.

Smiling goofily to no one in particular, she climbed out of bed and hopped into the shower, preparing for another kick ass day as an intern, forgetting that life of course was going all too well for her to not take another quick drastic turn on the pike.

xxx

"What are you doing here?" Kati asked dramatically. She always did, she had a flair of making things more dramatic than it was, maybe it was in her blood, or maybe it was just another quirk you'd get from growing up on the Upper East Side. "Go get married already!" she declared. Allie had barely made it into her best friend's apartment when the petite blonde verbally assaulted her. Allie merely laughed, "What are you talking about?" she asked before sitting down.

"Oh, come on, Carter is getting out today, he is going to be unhooked from all sorts of machines he's been hooked onto for the past week, which means the two of you can finally get on and stop this whole 'will they-won't they' drama that's driving us all nuts,"

"This isn't Vegas, Kat, you don't just go off and get married," Allie chuckled.

"No, its New York, money gets you everything, go to Mark Ingram's get a dress and I can throw together everything else that you need, it's perfect!"

"Kat!" Allie said, still unpersuaded.

"Go..!"

"Kati!"

"Come on, it's been 10 years! 10! You two need to get over this whole romantic checkmate you've got going on, or I'm gonna kill myself!" And with a push toward the door, with Kati at her heels, it was all the motivation she needed to jump into Kati's limo and do as she was told.

_"Hello chin, you're back!" Allie said enthusiastically like a child as she shaved off Carter's remaining stubble causing him to chuckle. Allie was seated crossed legged across him on the hospital bed, ridding the 'terrible thing' growing on his face after much persuasion. _

_"Well, I was never really gone," _

_"You weren't?" she asked dimly._

_"Mm-mm.." Carter shook his head._

_"Well it kinda seemed like it," Allie fake pouted and he leaned over for a kiss._

_"What was that for?" she asked when he pulled away, surprised by the random-ness._

_"Well, you said you wanted to take things slow, but I think slow qualifies for some action, don't you think?" he asked and it was Allie's turn to chuckle. _

Allie liked the way things were, she liked the fact that he knew she wasn't ready and respected that. She didn't feel like jumping into anything anytime soon again, but the fact that he understood and wouldn't push her made her feel that she may have been more ready than she thought. Maybe she was she wondered as she got into the limo.

Soft music tinkled in the background and the marble slabs on the floor practically gleamed they were polished so well. White lavish dresses were everywhere and emerged behind a rack was a tall blonde male who was clearly baffled by the choices. The brunette who was browsing at the jewelry at the counter turned just in time to see him rounding that corner and it was now the brunette's turn to be shocked as she clutched the dress on her arm almost as if she was afraid she'd drop it in shock.

"Bradin.. Uhm.. What are you doing here?" Allie asked.

"Hey, uh.. Jenny.. She wanted to pick out the dress today, but she's running late so I told her I'd try to pick a couple out for her to try when she gets here, and I think I'm in over my head here," Bradin explained looking round the room filled with the elegant dresses in white.

"Bradin Westerly, world renowned youngest cardiothoracic genius surgeon, stumped by dresses?" Allie teased.

"Yeah, get it out of your system, would you? I mean, who knew there were different styles, cuts, fabric, and and.. color! There are different shades of white to choose from! I mean.. Who comes up with these stuff.?!" he ranted edgily and Allie chuckled, pulling at his heart strings, he hadn't heard that laugh for so long. But he snapped his head out of it when she spoke.

"I have no idea. But, I'd suggest something simple, not too ornate, strapless is always good, princess cut, not too many ruffles, or too many beads, you know, something a lot like.." Allie said, giving him her opinion but he finished the sentence for her, "That one?" he asked, pointing at the dress on her arm.

"Yeah, except.. I. Want this one, I was just going in to try it on," Allie explained.

"The dressing room's ready," the shop assistant interrupted gracefully,

"I'm gonna.." Allie gestured to the thick curtains.

"Go ahead.. I should at least come up with one dress, simple, strapless, not too many ruffles, I think I got it,"

"Actually, uhm.. Kat's a little busy throwing together a last minute wedding for me so.. I could use the extra pair of eyes. Could you..?" she asked.

"Sure.." came to a quick reply as the shop assistant closed the think silver curtains shielding the changing bride to be behind it's thick fabric.

"But really Bradin, what were you thinking? You picking out her wedding dress for her? You should have just looked at tuxes and kept to that,"

"Well, I found my fit, and I got bored.. It seemed like a good idea at the time, speaking of good idea's, you and Carter?" he asked offhandedly, "Never mind the fact that he's a patient, there was a little bit of bad history between the two of you weren't there?" he asked, hoping to sound casual and not accusing. It was a touchy enough subject as it is by itself. This was after all not the first time Carter had driven the two of them apart, if he never popped up again, they might have still been there at Mark Ingram's, trying on gowns, but under very different circumstances, Bradin mused. But he didn't linger long on the thought, as he remembered why he was there and went over to look at a particular gown which hung on the mannequin's barely there curves.

"Well bad history makes good future references," Allie joked and he had to chuckle too. He turned around as the curtains were pulled open and he stood there in shock, stunned for a second at the sight before him, breath caught in his throat. She beamed at him in the wedding gown that seemed to have been tailored for her. His green eyes traveled down at the dress in disbelief and her eyes trailed his gaze.

"What is it?" she asked after looking down at the dress and finding nothing visibly marring the, in her opinion, simple elegance of the dress. It was flattering as it was stylish, strapless with a white fitting bodice and princess cut skirt. It was slightly tiered with ruffles at one side, with a slight trail in typical wedding gown fashion.

"Too much?" she asked, wondering if the slight ruffles by the side were a touch too much. He still seemed too stunned to say anything.

"Too little?" she wondered aloud yet again, hoping for a reply.

Again nothing. And she wondered what could have been so wrong with it that called for him to react that way.

"Too.. White?" she asked, chuckling, taking a wild stab as he regained his composure and control over his voice box.

"It's not the dress," he finally found his voice to say. He chuckled awkwardly looking at down at his feet before his emerald green eyes found her bluish grey orbs again, understanding finally sparking in them. It wasn't the dress. It was her in it. She took his breath away and for a moment it seemed they were both sent back ten years, getting ready to trot along the grand ballroom for Playa Linda's Senior Prom.

_His breath caught in his throat when the door opened._

_"Hey," the boy or, more like man, at the door greeted her. It took him a bit to gain his composure as he chuckled nervously, eyes sweeping over her. She was breathtaking, in a_ _strapless brownish black dress, hair twisted into a low pony tail on one side with curls loosely framing her face. He was in a sports coat with black slacks, and he felt a twinge of guilt that he didn't glam up more as she looked absolutely regal._

_"Hey," Aaliyah replied with a smile and found a single red rose he held it out in front of her. _

_"Why, thank you kind sir," she said taking the rose._

_"Shall we then, madam?" Bradin asked mimicking her tone and choice of words offering his arm, and Allie took it laughing._

_"We shall,"_

It took a moment but Allie snapped out of the daze and broke his gaze and turning around to look away into the mirror, eyes sweeping on the whole image of herself in the gown, her wedding gown, in silence.

"It's perfect," Bradin said as he gazed at her reflection.

And Allie wondered if it was. Her heart was so conflicted, it had been for so long, what with seeing Bradin again, hurting again, seeing Carter again, falling for him again. But at that moment, that one moment of clarity, it was all clear to her that it was the perfect thing to do. She knew because she was irrevocably, heads over heels, ass backwards in love with him. He was right. She loved him. She always did and she always will. And nothing in the world was going to change that.

She lifted her gaze to meet Bradin's in the mirror, "It is.."

_Nyahahaha.. Yes I am mean.. _

_Well, the chapter was long enough, so I figured to just leave it at that.. A little random, a little abrupt and a lot crazy this chapter, I know, but heck, it's my style ain't it? _

_Well, as I said before, lots of dancing around each other in this chapter, especially with those effed up muddled thoughts of our two stubborn hero and heroine. Haha.. Reviews are adored as you guys well know.. _

_You know the drill.. _

_xOxO_

_mAnomaly_


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Thanks ShiaLover09, 6Ellie6 and angel-prncess-18, you guys always review, faithfully! Appreciate it, this one's for you guys! Enjoy!_

**Collide**

_Allie stood still facing the stair door. Uneasy. Anxious. _

_She took in the empty rooftop around her, the red helipad, the great view of the city as the sun sunk into the concrete skyscrapers of the city and giggled a little nervously, trying to calm her jittery nerves. Aaliyah shivered delightedly at the prospect of danger as she willed herself to look down. There she was - eight stories up on the hospital roof. _

_Kati had booked for a chopper to fly them out to Vegas. To get married. And she stood there. Alone. Waiting. Waiting for the love of her life, to come through the door. He should. She asked for Paige to leave him the note. It was short and simple. She penned it herself after thinking over for a gazzilion times on what to write and finally decided on : _

_So there's this chopper coming to the roof_

_ETA : 6pm_

_Destination : Vegas._

_So what do you think?_

_You wanna get married tonight?_

_It wasn't all that romantic. Or formal. But that was the nature of their relationship from day one. It was just a touch that she thought appropriate. This was what they did after all back in high school. Text-ing was way overrated they decided together, and besides the family would get suspicious if there was suddenly a new friend who took to text-ing them a million times a day, so they wrote notes instead, just 2 kids sneaking around. And they've played so many games and beaten round the bush so much that they didn't even understand it anymore. But Allie knew that it felt good to have all gloves off. It was about time anyway._

_Because she knew it was love they were going through._

_Love._

_She fought back the tears that threatened to fall. Her heart finally feeling whole again for the first time in years._

_They were in love. With each other._

_The truth was truly a wonderful, life-altering thing._

_The whirring of the helicopter blades in a distance distracted her and prevented the tears from streaking down her cheeks. Allie looked up to see the helicopter approaching and as it did, a shiver ran up her spine that had nothing to do with the strong wind that blew her direction as it grew nearer. _

_Her eyes landed back onto the door, wiling it to open but it didn't._

_Her throat went dry when her pager beeped._

Her alarm clock beeped signaling it was time for her to wake as bright sunlight spilled into the room and the beige translucent draperies ruffled soundlessly by the window. The cars honked down at the streets below and thus the morning traffic began. Curled up into the fetal position under the sheets, that was how she flitted in and out of fitful sleep the night before with the raindrops pounding on the roof. Her eyes opened and the unfilled space on the bed next to her stared back. Unused and empty.

Allie closed her eyes, willing herself to fall asleep again. If only for a little while longer.

_She ran down the stairs and down the hallways but as she stood outside the room she couldn't bring herself to enter as the medical practitioners exited. Dress ruffling noisily as she walked, she put a foot in front of another and entered the room with a heavy heart. When she saw what was within, she felt as though the rug was ripped out from beneath her._

_The long uninterrupted beep echoed around the emptying room._

_Breathing heavily and fighting back tears, nausea crept up her throat. _

_A week ago he was alive. A week ago he was proposing to her and now they were going to pull the sheets over his head and send him to the morgue. Now, that. Was just ridiculous. She could have laughed at the ridiculousness of it._

_A week ago he was alive. A week ago, she helped him shave. A week ago they were in love and it was only a matter of time until nothing could keep them apart. And now the only thing that proved he ever lived was the ring that sat on her finger._

_She closed her eyes and hot fat tears leaked out._

Her eyes snapped open once more. And she was alone again.

Carter.

That was the first thing that came to mind every time she woke. How is he? Does he miss her the way she missed him? Where was he? Will she be seeing him again? God, she hoped so.

And then it was time again. Time to get up and get to life again.

xxx

"It's official, not strep," Allie announced as she entered the clinic room with the test results in her hand.

"I-" the mother of a rather chubby little girl who sat waiting for the results started saying something again.

"Really, not strep," Allie repeated, "Seeing as she has none of the symptoms but I sent for a test anyway knowing that it'd be faster than to stand here and argue with you, really.. The boys at the lab, they're hard drinkers, but they're pro's, so trust me, it's. Not. Strep." Allie snapped at the overly fawning concerned mother. She'd stood there for at least 15 minutes examining and re-examining the woman's daughter and explaining how it could not be strep before realizing there would be no use arguing and sent for a test instead.

"Well, that's good news, but you see, she has a birthday party coming up and I opting to get her a sugarless cake, but Malia here wants a chocolate cake, so maybe you could.." the mother let her voice trail off.

"You want me to scare her of dangers of obesity," Allie stated.

"It's the number one problem of America," the mother stated diplomatically.

Gripping the file tight in her hands, Allie got up and left the room.

"My my, look at the time," Allie said, placing down the file on the counter, "I should have been out of here 20 minutes go,"

"You've only been here 20 minutes," the elderly and rather heavy set nurse commented, barely looking up at her.

"Can't slip anything by you can I?" she commented sardonically and attempted to walk out of the clinic.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Where you going?" a voice came from behind her.

"Jace, it's been a month," Allie said, turning around.

"And you're still not ready,"

"I'm fine!" she said, exasperated.

"Aaliyah -" he started saying but Allie cut him off.

"I've been doing clinic duty for a month. One. Month!" she said enunciating the last two syllables as if she was talking to a toddler.

"Allie -"

"30 days!" she snapped cutting him off, "I have not been so much as seen the inside of an Operating Room in 30 days,"

"Carter died," Jace stated in his matter of fact-ly tone.

"A month ago! I'm fine!"

"Aaliyah, listen to me," he said sternly and that caught her attention long enough not to interrupt his sentence again, "Now, I say this not just because I care, but I say this because I have to, you have to cut the crap because you are not fine. So until you can have an honest conversation about your feelings with your therapist, Aaliyah, you are not fine and you are not going anywhere near the OR let alone the Operating Floor," and without missing a beat, he continued, "Until Dr Harrison tells me something other than the fact that you draw awfully straight lines in the sand box that you play with when you sit in his office each session, you, have clinic duty," he stated and finished by handing Allie another file for, without a doubt, another patient, in another room of the clinic.

_A/N Short.. I know.. And no Bradin. But short Bradin-less update's better than no update.. Yes? Haha.._

_*Sigh.. So there, Carter's gone and you guys must be psyched. And honestly, I am too, well, a little, cause that means more Bradin from here onwards, but I don't know, it's just so sad, don't you think?_

_Bah.. Well, anyway, you know the drill, this author is not in favor of silent readers, so let me know what you think.!_

_xOxO_

_mAnomaly_


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Woo Hoo! Long chapter! Yay! Haven't had one of them in a while huh? Haha.. _

_**angel-prncess-18** - Thanks.! I know.. He's jst the character that you'd love.. But.. He just wasn't gonna get the girl.. Sad.. Anyway, axing Jenny? Now there's a thought.. Hahaha..! Hope you'll like this one.._

_**ShiaLover09** - It's okay, it doesn't make you a bad person, it just makes you a very devoted Bradin-er.. xD_

_About Carter, I really don't know, I'm no doctor, but apparently, things like that just do happen, like they just stroke off after the body seemingly have accepted the new organ cause during operations a clot may have built up somewhere or stuff like that.. But as you may have noticed, I didn't know how to kill him off, so he just died without elaboration.. Haha.._

_**6Ellie6** - Thanks.. I was hoping you guys weren't gonna throw rotten fruit at me for leaving Bradin out so much.. About killing off, Jenny though, I don't know, she's kinda annoying, I know.. The typical white blonde girl who gets what she wants.. So.. Elch! Haha. We'll see.. _

_**acciodanrad9 **- I know, I was sobbing when I read it, okay maybe not really sobbing, I'm exaggerating, but was teary eyed cause I was really attached to Carter.. Meh.. But you do get your Bradin Allie action here. Literally action.. Read and you'll see what I mean.._

_I realize that this is not gonna be a great in terms of coherency and trail of thought, so this is the preemptive apology for the incoherency and quiet possibly the heavy confusion cause I just sat and basically regurgitated the entire chapter in an hour between studying times, but all the same, I'll let you get to it, long one ahead, and this is kinda the pinnacle of the story! And our hero literally plays hero. _

_So here we go, you guys wished for it, your serious Bradin Allie action.. _

**Collide**

_"You said I love you," Allie stated not even looking up from the file. Even in the dark, she could see the patient stirring._

_"What?" he asked with some amount of difficulty. There had to be some when you have a large piece of glass in your heart._

_"You said I love you," she repeated herself before placing down the chart._

_"I'm dying, I'm confused, and you're.. Hot," the patient replied._

_"You said 'I love you, Lindsay,'" Allie pointed out to the dying patient that he proclaimed love towards his best friend's girlfriend._

_And with that the male patient's face fell, "Oh,"_

_Silence._

_And then. _

_"Look, there's a clarity," he said looking up at her from the bed, "There's a clarity when you cross over that edge. There's a clarity, and there's this moment.. Where everything just melts away and.. and.. You're fearless," he said enthusiastically with a look of glee on his face as he relived that moment._

_"So tell her," _

_"I can't," he replied, the serene look on his face now gone._

_"Why not?"_

_"Because.. The feeling, it goes away._ _That clarity… It.. It goes away and you go right back to being the coward who can't tell the person you love how you feel," he explained._

_"What do you have to lose?" Allie asked instead, "You know you're bleeding out, you know you're going to die, what do you have to lose? You love her. She has the right to know that,"_

_"No," he insisted, shaking his head._

_"Why not?" Allie asked, persistent, "She's right there, she's right outside, right now,"_

_"Because she's with Bryan," he answered, "And I can't do that to him, he's my best friend, and she has the right to be happy with him,"_

_At that moment, Allie turned to trail his eyes looking out at the beautiful brunette standing outside next to another male. But there was someone else with them. Someone less foreign looking. In a medical coat and all, no doubt explaining the situation their friend in that very room was in. The blonde haired, green eyed cardiothoracic specialist._

"Aaliyah?" The elderly man behind his heavy set table with a pen in his hand over a file, called out to her, efficiently snapping her out of her daze, peering at her through his half moon reading glasses.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You were telling me about your day," he prodded her along and she exhaled before looking out the window again. Today she decided not to sit on the other side of his table and sit under his penetrating gaze and opted for the couch by the window instead and she was talking about her day, her first day not spent in clinic in the month. It wasn't the OR but she figured the ER had got to beat the crap out of doing clinic. Allie had just been talking about the patient who was slowly dying because of a fragment of glass lodged in his heart during a crash that was deemed surgically irremovable when that particular conversation with the patient wormed its way determinedly into her mind.

"It was a good day," she said, " I was a good doctor, even when it was hard, even when I thought I can't do it, I closed my eyes, I imagined myself doing it, and I did, I did it, and it was a good day," Allie explained,

_"You alright?" the blonde haired, green eyed cardiothoracic specialist asked her as the machine's long uninterrupted was cut off by the nurse turning off the machine before she left the room. _

_She inhaled and let out the long breathe before answering, "I've a.. Feeling," she explained. It was true. She couldn't quiet place the said feeling. It was unsettling. And confusing. And it resided in the depths of the cold bottomless pit of her heart. That was the said feeling. It was that heavy, not quiet painful but all the same, unbearable feeling. _

_"Yeah?" he asked._

_"Yeah," she replied unenthusiastically. She didn't know if it was to be associated with loosing yet another patient, because it was that same depression, that same sadness when you stand by and just watch someone die without being able to do anything, but it was somehow a little different._

_"And?"_

_"I don't know," came to an honest answer. Because that's just that. She didn't know._

_"If you wait long enough.. It.. uhm.. It passes.. The feeling, it goes away," he replied comfortingly, knowingly._

_"You promise?" she asked skeptically._

'_A feeling' is not exactly something that's accurately translated._

_"I promise," he assured her and it was all that she needed to hear._

_"Okay," Allie replied, resigned, and left Bradin alone in the room with his thoughts. The familiar sinking feeling similar to pain stabbed at his heart again. He exhaled and just stood there, the last on in the room with the dead patient._

_"Hey... Whatcha doing?" a voice came in from behind. He didn't have to turn around to picture the blonde haired blue eyed smiling Jenny entering the room. _

_"Waiting for it to pass," he sighed._

"It was a good a day," she repeated.

"Look, I'm just going to say this because we've done more than 6 sessions now and I feel that should get right to the point," the elderly male who sat on the other side of the room behind his table patiently stated while putting down his pen and clasping his two hands together as though preparing to give a long speech, "That was a load of crap. It was not a good day. You don't feel like a good doctor, you don't even feel like a good person, your patient died alone unable to tell the love of his life how he felt, and all that that you just told me in the last five minutes was crap, it was crap, and you know it," he stated casually.

"He did it for his best friend, it was selfless, heroic," Allie stated, feeling strangely defensive towards this patient.

"And that's a load of crap too,"

"Stop saying that,"

"Look, let me draw the parallels for you. Your patient tragically dies. Alone. While the love of his life is literally in the next room. That's sad, it's pathetic, it's you,"

"I'm not dying! And I am not sad," Allie countered, confused, and finding what the psychiatrist was saying awfully funny.

"Oh, but I think you are, and you're telling yourself you're a hero, when in reality all you are is alone," he continued saying in his matter of factly tone which made her blood rise several levels too high.

"Now that is crap!"

"He's with Jenny now,"

"Did you miss a memo or something?" Allie asked wondering if her shrink needed a shrink himself.

"He's with Jenny," the elderly man repeated.

"No, HE is dead, the love of my life is dead, Carter is dead," Allie snapped.

"He's with Jenny," he repeated, unphased by her outburst, ignoring her statement.

"Can you stop saying that?! This isn't about me harboring any unwanted yearning for about an attending who was an ex of mine!"

"I think it is, because Carter is dead and Bradin is still here, but Bradin's with Jenny," he analyzed, laying it all down for her.

"Yeah, he's with Jenny, so what?!"

"So it means he's not with you, and that means you're alone, for the first time you are truly alone, and you're scared,"

"What are you calling me a coward?" Allie felt her temper rise several notch some more.

"I think you're very frightened is what you are, because you think it's so heroic that you are burying your feelings for him, to pine after someone who's dead so that he can be with Jenny,"

And her only response to that was to scoff at his statement, "I am so not doing this!" Allie declared, getting up to leave.

"Don't you find this odd that the first time we're having an honest conversation about your feelings and you're leaving?" he continued pushing, placing down his glasses and leaning backwards into his chair.

"No, and I'm not leaving, I'm firing you," Allie argued childishly.

"Carter's dead, Aaliyah, and Bradin, he's with Jenny, and you're alone, you don't have anyone, not Carter, not Bradin, not even Cassidy, the one constant in your life for the past decade, you're finally truly alone and that scares the hell out of you,"

Before Allie could argue further though, her pager beeped. And glad to find a reason to put as much distance between her and the crazy shrink who picked at her heart piece by piece hitting at places it hurt the most, she raced down to the ER.

It was a gunned robbery and it was the ER, needless to say, the combination made quiet a heady brew of chaos and havoc down in the pit. And the dust that kicked up during the great battle of the morning pile up on the freeway was just starting to settle down again when the wail of the ambulances rolling in with multiple gun shot wound victims called for the all hands of Lennox Hill's medical staff.

And it all happened too quickly for anyone to register.

Bang! Bang! And everybody froze in their tracks.

Allie had just been finishing up the dressing of a bullet graze wound of a scruffy black male who was caught in the middle of the robbery cross fire. The uniforms came in for some routine questions and Allie was just leaving the room when it seemed that the victim was not the victim after all. After the initial few bullets, Aaliyah had crouched down onto the floor holding her hands over her ears in recoil to the loud gun shots as the stray bullets shattered windows. The broken pieces of glass came cascading over her head. She turned in time to see the two man fall heavily onto the ground with a loud thump.

Doctors and patient alike took cover. Somewhere a child cried, scared out of her wits probably and ears ringing from the loud bangs. Patients scurried about scampering out of harms way, panicked and distressed as the officers drew their guns.

One second. One.

All it took was one Mississippi's worth of un-deliberation for Aaliyah to rush forward and place her hands on the wounds of the bleeding officer.

With the shooter still in the room.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Allie shut her eyes, crouching over the fighting for his life's man's body, bracing herself for more glass to come cascading over her head or for the bullet's to hit any part of her. She heard a scream, whether it was hers or not, she couldn't tell, not at that point. She waited for the pain to sink in and the warm fluid to start seeping out, draining life from her body too. But it never came.

She opened her eyes, breathing heavily. The man she treated merely seconds ago was shooting out the door into the hallway, leaning on the doorframe firing some random shots down the hallway without looking. There was a blood curling scream and Aaliyah looked away from the door back down at the stranger who's life she risked her own to save. She felt the life oozing out of the officers body as his breathing shallowed.

_The steady flash of the blue and red light illuminated the road._

_Glass sprayed across the road, pieces of metal scattered around the twisted wreck of what was left of 2 cars, streaks of crimson stained the small patch concrete before her, and a lone male figure laying above it. Laying lifeless, bloodless even looking at the amount of it on the ground._

"Up against the wall!" the voice commanded snapping Allie out of her thoughts. She looked up at the scruffy looking male in the oversized jacket.

"There!" he instructed yet again, cocking his head toward the direction, gun pointed at her.

A fist of fear closed in around her as the officer made a gurgling noise, breathing his last breathe. She looked at the bleeding officer and his eyes loomed out of focus and glazed over ever so slightly. And then she was alone again. Alone in the room with a gunman.

"Now!" he screamed, loosing his calm as he prodded the gun at her direction yet again but rather forcefully this time. She didn't need to be told again. Not wanting to offend the man who took the life of the officer laying in front of her, she lifted her bloody hands to the level of her head before getting off her knees and stepping away from the two bodies to the far other side of the room as he instructed.

xxx

Pure terror was in the air as some more shots were heard. Bullets grazed past seamlessly. He pulled the child he was treating down with him to the ground and she started to cry. He tried to calm her a little and then there were more shots fired. Whether it was from their end by the cops or the other end by the shooter, he didn't know. But then there was a scream. An unmistakable scream.

Jenny.

He looked around and spotted the blonde damsel crouched under another gurney with her hands over her ears not far behind him.

Bradin dared himself to look up from beneath the gurney. The open fire seemed to have ceased. At least for that moment. He wondered for a moment if it was indeed already safe. Did one of the officer's bullets connect with the shooter? The girl crying in his arms was the only noise in the emergency room now as everything stood still. He poked his head up and saw that the door was closed. Handing the crying girl who could not been more than 7 years old to the nurse cowering next to him, he called out, he crawled toward his fiancé.

"Alright, I want this area emptied out, the shooter is in the room and we'd like to keep it this way, move everyone to the west end on the other side," a man in a uniform commanded and in a scurry of movement, all the medical staff complied, bringing their respective patients who hasn't fled with them, most of which still shaking in fear.

"Are you alright?" Bradin asked Jenny as he helped her up.

"I don't know," she sobbed, gulping in air like a new born, "I think.. I got hit," she stammered. Bradin pried her hand away from her arm to reveal a graze. It wasn't all that bad, but bad enough to draw some blood, "Come on, let's go," he said and made their way to the west end as ordered.

Several minutes later, a resident was attending to Jenny's wound and Bradin who had opted to stay with her because she asked him to, stood and watched as they dressed the wound appropriately, all the while giving her a convincing smile. And then he heard a voice from behind the curtains. It was Jace, and he was discussing the little hostage situation they were having in the ER what with the armed robber who seemed to have locked himself in an empty room with two corpses and a doctor. But it wasn't the voice that drew him out, but what the voice said.

"What?" he asked, pushing the curtains aside, revealing himself to his once upon a time teacher and the police officer who seemed to be in charge of the situation.

"Aaliyah is in there with him," the Chief repeated himself gravely, "She.. Didn't quiet make it out of the room,"

xxx

The moment the gun was upon her, all she could think of was all the horrible shootings she'd heard before - disgruntled employee returning after lunch with an arsenal wiping out all 15 of his co-workers cause he didn't get a promotion he wanted, playground massacres, slaughters at fast food restaurants, high school shootings. And those had been innocent victims and civilians. There she was in the hospital. With a bunch of doctors. They were supposed to be the ones who work to save the said victims. Not be victims themselves!

The man had removed his filthy oversized jacket and threw it aside.

There was silence between the two. And Aaliyah wondered why he hadn't shot her already? Perhaps courtesy, Allie thought. She did after all stop his bleeding and put a tight bandage on for him. Tight enough to stay on even after such vigorous shooting. Tight enough to stay on even after he wounded god knows how many with his random shots down the hall. Tight enough for him to kill two police officers even. In front of her.

He limped around the room, fiddling the gun in his hands. He seemed to have taken a hit at his thigh. And it was starting to soak through his jeans with the crimson liquid. He limped around, face contorted in pain.

And Aaliyah's first instincts had not been to bolt. After the several initial shots, her first instincts was not to run out of the room, hoping against hope for a bad shot. And under normal circumstances she would have wondered why, but having a gun pointed to your face was definitely not to be considered normal. Her blood ran cold during the long silence after he instructed her to the other side of the small treatment room with the arsenal in his hand.

Watching him grimace in pain as he studied his wound, he then ordered her to bandage that wound up too. At gun point. So she did.

As she finished tying of the wound roughly with the lack of the needed items and in panic, there seemed to be some sort of a shuffle outside and it agitated him. Perhaps the realization that he couldn't barricade himself in the room forever dawned upon him and he decided upon a back up plan instantly. Allie wondered it the sound came from a SWAT team, clad in fierce looking helms and thick bullet proof vests, crouching and reaching the room before attacking. And then as suddenly as when he began shooting at the cops, he grabbed her and exited the room, using her as a shield while holding the gun at her head.

"Stand back! Back!" he ordered viciously as they inched out of the room.

And then for the second time in that hour, all the wind got knocked out of her chest when a figure walked slowly and calmly toward them both.

Bradin Westerly.

In his white doctor's coat and all, stethoscope still hanging over his neck.

"Whoa. Easy buddy, easy," he said nervously as the gun was pointed in his direction.

"I said back!" he repeated himself causing Allie to close her eyes and shiver as the gun was pointed at Bradin for a moment before returning to the her temple. When she opened her eyes again the blonde doctor was standing some distance away, walking toward them, slowly, a cautious step at a time. He was close enough for her to see that he was a little out of breathe, almost as if he just sprinted over from somewhere, but then again, it maybe because he was panicked. Everyone in the room was. Even the cops behind, armed and ready to tackle the man with a hostage.

'What the hell was this chump doing?' they must have all thought. It sure as hell was what Allie was thinking.

"Look, we'll do a trade okay, take.. Take me, let her go," Bradin negotiated.

"Hey, hey, I said stand back, I swear to God, I'll shoot her pretty head off," the gun man threatened flailing the gun in his hand at Bradin before returning it to her temple.

"Okay! Okay.." Bradin raised his hands and stopped moving forward.

"Yo Doc! I said, back!" he removed the gun from her head again to point at him and recognizing an opportunity, he lunged forward, knocking his hand away before pulling her down with him. There was another one of them infamous 'Bang''s and she didn't know where the shot was issued from when they both landed on the floor Bradin's body over hers, shielding her from harm. And then there was a spray of blood raining down.

_A/N Fwoarh! Okay, so that was long. And new. Hope that was a twist we didn't see coming! Haha.._

_Anyway, I hope you guys weren't thinking that I'd really axe Jenny now did you? Haha.. Nah, that's just a little far fetched, the two people standing in the way dying, is like.. Cree-Py! o.o_

_Ho ho ho. But anyway, yes people, another cliffie.! I hope this isn't dragging too long and making you guys loose interest, cause I've that sinking feeling that I may just very well be doing that without realizing. Bah.. Nevermind, just let me know your thoughts.! _

_xOxO_

_mAnomaly.._


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Hohoho.. I'm back.. Sorry for leaving the cliffhanger hanging for so long. _

_Thank you to those still reading._

_And thank you __**angel-prncess-18, ShiaLover09, **__and__** acciodanrad9**__ for the reviews!_

_Thank you thank you thank you!_

**Collide**

_There was another loud bang. And a spray of blood raining down._

_Allie opened her eyes and they met with a pair of chocolate brown orbs looking down at her serenely without the patented smirk._

"I like that moment," Aaliyah said staring out the window again, "That moment, in the morning, when you're half asleep,"

"Cause it's that one moment, that.. You're half asleep and everything feels.. Possible. I mean, you're dreaming. You're dreaming right, and.. And then you wake up, and at that one brief moment between waking and dreaming, it feels like you can just reach out and touch that dream and it'll be real.."

_Beneath the sheets, she pulled the silk robe tight around herself and closed them back again, allowing his scent to fill her. It was fading away now, but it was still there. "You ever thought of changing your signature scent?" she would say cheekily to the unused space next to her on the bed._

_He didn't like it when she said things like that. Picked on his sense of fashion, teased his signature scent he'd been using since he was in middle school. _

_He'd make a face. _

_And then she'd laugh, wrapped up in his robe under the sheets, she'd giggle like a kid who just found her first washed up jellyfish._

_And then he'd laugh too, and lean over and kiss her on the forehead._

_But of course, the soft pliant pressure on her forehead would never come. She'd reach out to the void on the bed and feel nothing but the soft fabrics of the thick duvet and the sheets. And then she'd open her eyes and take in the empty space next to her on the bed again._

"That's very generous of you to share Allie, but I'd like to hear a little more about what happened last week in the hospital,"

_Aaliyah stood there facing him clutching his bandaged right hand with his left. It was all a blur, but she remembered looking up to see the man she treated falling and the police men closing in on them surrounding the body and ushering them from harms way. And now she was there staring at the blonde male who seemed very absorbed with his bandaged hand, it being his livelihood after all hanging on the balance. He opened and closed his palms several times flexing the muscles and testing the nerves for anything out of the ordinary. Allie said nothing for a while, just watching before announcing her presence._

_"Hi," she said awkwardly, for a lack of a better thing to say to the man in the little stall of the Emergency Room._

_"Hi," he replied customarily, looking up from his bandaged hand. They'd landed a little bit hard on some pieces of glass jaggedly laying on the floor._

_And then there was silence. _

_It seemed there were no words for when someone saves your life, risking his own in by running into a hostage situation. His eyes found hers and she found her voice to break the silence._

_"So I nearly died today," she stated randomly and somewhat daftly._

_"Yeah, you did,"_

_And Allie mentally commended him for not laughing._

_"And you saved me," she stated referring to his stupid selflessness when he offered to trade places with her before lunging forward and pulling her out of harms way and shielding her._

_"Yeah, I did," he agreed again._

_And then a hush fell over them again, like a blanket cloaked over the room._

_It had been a long day. And they were both too tired to break the heavy stillness where their eyes met. And it was not the awkward uncomfortable glance you give in the silence where you have where you didn't know what to say or what to do. It was the kind of look shared in silence with an understanding between two beings, where words failed to bring meaning without knowing that there needn't any words to be spoken at all. The kind of calm gaze you share in the stillness with unspoken assurance and comfort._

_"It was real wasn't it?" Allie finally asked eyes lingering away in thought, breaking the silence once more, "You and me, such a long time ago, just a couple of kids," she stated._

_"We really loved each other didn't we?" Allie wondered aloud and their eyes met again. _

_And then again, another long silence as Bradin pondered her words, wondering what she had meant by them. It had been a really long day._

_"I should go," Allie finally said, "I'm.. I'm gonna go now," she said again and pushed past the curtains of the small cubicle exiting the Emergency Room. _

'_Because the feeling, it goes away..' _

"What's there to tell?" she answered finally.

"The man was shot in front of you, he died," Dr. Harrison stated a mater-of-factly as thought he was expecting her to go all crazy screaming and crying, the usual demented actions of a person having post traumatic stress disorder.

"Yeah, and I got out, I'm alive.. I'm fine," she matched his tone.

"You know people run away from this line between life and death, right? They run _Away_ from it, you, you seem to run toward it, in case you haven't noticed, you ran into the room with a man who was shooting off a gun when you were halfway out the door," the elderly man stated the circumstances of which she almost died.

"I was trying to save a man's life," she stated.

"A man who you knew would have died anyway; he was shot at the chest, point blank, twice," her psychiatrist challenged her statement.

"I'm not suicidal, if that's what you're implying," she came back with, catching on what he meant, nails digging into the arm of the chair her hand was on, anger building with her shrink. A shrink she didn't want to be seeing anyway, but after the little incident of which she almost died, Jace had made it clear that she needed psyche clearing before being allowed back on the surgical floor.

"I'm not implying it, because you're not, what I'm implying is you're running toward danger, hoping to find yourself in a life and death situation so that luck can sway you toward death and maybe you could run away again, because that's just what you do, you run away cause it's easier, you ran away from Playa Linda when your dad died, you ran away from New York when Carter broke your heart and then you ran away from Playa Linda again so that you didn't have to deal with Bradin, you sit around waiting for people to mess up and then you say 'AHA! I Quit! I'm outta here!' It's the only thing you now how to do," he pointed it all out for her and all while her rage continued to build like a snow ball rolling down the hill.

"Is the end of this speech in sight yet?" she snapped when he ended his 'analysis'.

"No, because he's dead, Aaliyah," he ploughed on, "He's dead and you need to stop running from it and stay still long enough to move on, he's dead and you need to deal with our feelings with Bradin who risked his life to save you, because Carter. Is. Dead, Aaliyah, He's dead, stop running,"

"I'm not running anywhere! And I'm not looking for an easy way out, I had a gun pointed to my head, do you think I do that for kicks?" Allie retorted angrily.

"Did you even find out his name?" he asked calmly.

Allie merely scoffed before formulating a reply, "Not that I'm not used to your left hand questions, but okay, I'll bite, what the hell are you talking about this time?"

"His name," he repeated, "The cop. Cause you claim that the reason you ran into the room is to save his life. And you're a great doctor. Or on the road of becoming one, and you strive to win every battle, save every life, and you're very good at it too. You win a lot. And if that's so, then you're right, you're not throwing yourself at danger, you're just an obsessive compulsive staggering down a self destructive road,"

"So I'm either suicidal, or crazy," she summarized what the elderly man was implying, she didn't like it, but it was somewhat funny, what he had deduced because her odds kinda really sucked.

"What was his name?" Dr. Harrison repeated in his unnerving calm.

Allie held his gaze for a moment before deciding to reply.

"My dad died when I was ten. In a car accident, and I was with him. While we waited for the ambulance to come, I put my hand on his chest so he wouldn't bleed out and when he died, I felt his heart stop beating. Literally. In my hands. That's why I do this. It's also why I win every battle, that's why I save every life, and if that makes me an obsessive compulsive who's self destructive, fine, I can live with that," she explained before getting up to leave, "And his name is William, Officer William Black,"

"Was," he said as Aaliyah reached his office room door.

She turned around.

"Was, because he's dead, past tense,"

"Great, you bill me several hundred dollars for each session to correct my grammar, that's just great, doctor, really, bang up job," she snapped, loosing her temper again.

"No, I bill you several hundred dollars a session to tell you that you have abandonment issues that was probably triggered when your mom left, and then your dad, and then Carter and now you're just afraid of getting hurt again," he stated, "I bill you to tell you that you have a God complex that was a direct result of failing to save you dad when you were a kid, I bill you to tell you that Carter is dead and you need to stop running from it and stay still long enough to move on, because he's dead and you need to deal with our feelings with Bradin who risked his life to save you, I bill you to tell you that you need to stop running because he's dead, Carter. Is. Dead."

And against all natural instincts to prove him wrong, she turned around and left the room again. Storming out of the office, she headed straight to the only place she could feel sane again.

Carter's hospital room.

She pushed the door open and her footsteps echoed on the floor. The room was dark and empty. Even the air in the room seemed lifeless. All life seemed to have left some weeks ago along with the occupant who inhabited the room for so long.

_"What are you doing here, Liyah?" the man with the chocolate brown eyes asked and she looked up t see the face of the voice._

_"I don't know," she answered truthfully._

_"You can't stay here,"_

_"I know," she replied._

_"You need to move on," he repeated the words of her psychiatrist._

_"I know," _

_"And you need to take the ring off,"_

_"I love you Carter, with all my heart, but don't push it," she threatened for so much as even saying that she should take off their engagement ring._

_"Liyah.." he said warningly._

_"Carter, don't," she said mirroring his tone, tears threatening to fall._

_"You need to take it off," he repeated._

_And there was silence for a moment._

_"I'm scared," she whispered._

_"I know you are," he said taking a step toward her in the dark empty room, "But you have to let go," _

_"But I don't want to," she whispered._

_His hand reached out to brush her cheek and she closed her eyes, letting two tear tracks form on her cheek, wishing for the embrace to come and yet knowing it never would. _

_She was sane of course, she was._

_She only pretended he was there. Pretended because it'd make it easier._

Aaliyah opened her eyes and nothing welcomed her but darkness of the unused room before her. Darkness and emptiness. Something she'd become very accustomed to in the past month. It's something that happens when you loose someone you love, no matter how hard you try, and how hard you fight, it makes you all dark and twisty inside, and after a while, you just let go and it makes you cynical and broody.

"Allie?" another familiar voice called out, snapping her from her thoughts. And this time, the voice was as real as it would get, not a fragment of her imagination, not made belief, but coming from a living breathing person who entered the room behind her.

"You know what I wonder at the end of every day?" she asked, not even turning around, "I wonder how people don't go crazy. I do, really, cause in the face of everything you lose.. Everything that life can take away from you and has taken away from you, it makes you all dark and cynical and twisty and at the end of the day you barely make it through and you're barely breathing and.. And it just.. How the hell do people hold it all together in the end?"

"Life's a hell of a thing to happen to a person," he replied.

After a moment, "Yeah. It is," she replied, "Goodnight Bradin," she said before leaving the room.


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Ta-Dah! Yes, I'm feeling kind.. Or rather, guilty cause I abandoned this for so long.. But anyhow.. I have to say.. _

_Read This Read This Read This! Really, trust me.. Read it.. Hahaha.. I'm sure you know why.. *sly wink.._

**Collide**

_"You ran into a hostage situation?!" his younger sister practically yelled into his ear from the modern technological device and he almost had to pull the phone away from his hear a little._

_"Well not so much ran into as.."_

_"You idiot!" she snapped at him cutting through his sentence._

_"What? So I ran at a guy with a gun, but people can totally get away with cutting other people open if they wear a medical coat," Bradin tried to reason his actions with her._

_"I'm not talking about doctors doing surgery, I'm talking about you running into a hostage situation, you idiot! What were you thinking?!" Nikki demanded with her air of superiority even when he was the older brother._

_"I wasn't, okay, that's just it! I wasn't thinking!" came to a quick and honest reply._

_"Well, you better start, cause it's just obvious that you need to decide," his much younger and clearly much more reasonable and mature sister stated._

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"What am I talking about? You RAN into a hostage situation!" Nikki stated, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_"Yes, point established from the million or so times that you've mentioned it in the last five minutes," he snapped back._

_"To save Allie. At a time when Jenny was shot," she ploughed on ignoring him._

_"Yeah.. Did I mention I wasn't thinking?" _

_"__Look, you need to decide, who's it gonna be, Bradin? Is it Jenny, or is it Allie? Do you like the blonde, or do you like the brunette? These questions are not gonna go away and it's time you start thinking cause you need to provide some answers,__"_

Bradin stared into space re-living the conversation he had with Nikki in his head as another man in a tux went up onto stage for another speech. He clapped unenthusiastically before falling into a daze again.

_"__.. Who's it gonna be, Bradin? Is it Jenny, or is it Allie? Do you like the blonde, or do you like the brunette? These questions are not gonna go away and it's time you start thinking cause you need to provide some answers,__"_

His little sister just made too much sense of things sometimes. He could have blissfully went on the way things were before that conversation. Yeah, he would have had some explaining to do to Jenny about why he ran into a hostage situation but he would have blissfully ignored the fact that he still had a choice. He'd accepted that he was going to marry Jenny. The day he gave her the ring was the day he gave her his word, and he intended on sticking by it, but there was just a part of him that was always going to gravitate towards Allie no matter what he did.

Another round of applause brought him back to reality and he clapped graciously alongside the other dressed up people in the room. It was the Lennox Hill's annual Charity Gala Night and half the staff was dressed up to nines in gowns and tuxes for dinner in the Grand Ballroom of one of Upper East Side's snazzy hotels.

With that one particular speech it seemed that the dance floor was opened and the band started playing as the crowd cluttered onto the dance floor.

He'd been spacing in and out and falling into many different dazes with his conflicting thoughts and emotions for the past few days and he was glad that the 'I'm just feeling a little out of it' excuse was holding up with Jenny, probably because of the whole shootout in the ER, they were all a little bit shaken to some extent.

"This brings back very painful memories of my prom," Jenny casually joked, prodding him out of his daze again.

"It couldn't have been that bad," he replied absent mindedly turning to look at her.

"Ugh.. I had a quarterback sleazy boyfriend back then who abandoned me to light a fire at the enemy high school Pan East High's football field to spell out 'Pan Sucks' and the limo ride home was just one drunken high with my girlfriends, not something I'm proud of or a memory I'd like to hold onto,"

Bradin chuckled good heartedly at the little shared anecdote of his fiancé but he couldn't help but think that if it was Allie she would have hiked up her dress and trudged to the field to light up the match alongside the boys or gotten her groove on with her girl friends on the dance floor.

"So what do you say? You wanna dance? Help me re-write some more pleasant memories?" she pouted flirtatiously at him.

"Sure," he smiled at her, having to force the one syllable out.

"Okay, but I've to head to the ladies first, I'm filled up to here with bubbly," she replied jokingly placing her hand above her head.

He got up like a gentlemen to pull her chair back for her and watched her leave before turning around to see Allie. She looked as striking as always in a low backed green satin gown with her dark brown hair pulled to a low ponytail at the side of her head. Even on the dance floor with a balding doctor who he had to say could not dance well, she was breathtaking, she always have been, especially to him, even after pulling a 3 day shift running round doing intern-ly grunt errands. She looked almost desperate for a rescue though, throwing glances around the room. Contemplating, he looked round see Jenny leave the room before making up his mind.

"May I?" he offered and the good doctor graciously left.

"Your timing is impeccable," Allie whispered with a smile as she took his hand and the band ended that song and stated to play another. The band started playing the first few bars and instantly Allie wished she was back dancing with Dr. Receding hairline.

_What day is it?_

_And in what my month this clock never seem so alive_

Their eyes connected for a brief moment and suddenly it was as if they were back in time, 2 kids at spring dance, unsure of what territories they were allowed to explore and what territories not to explore.

_I can't keep up and I can't back down_

_I've been losing so much time_

He had Jenny now, and she knew it was wrong, and it somehow felt like a betrayal to Carter but guiltily, Allie wondered if the song could play as slowly, if not slower, just the way it did back in spring dance, just so the two could stay in the embrace for just that few minutes longer.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_With nothing to do, nothing to lose_

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

Bradin's breath got caught at his throat as he took in a breath and inhaled the familiar Allie-ness. His hand around her waist tightened, drawing her close, almost forgetting the ballroom full of people around them.

_What are the things_

_That I wanna say just aren't coming out right_

_I'm tripping on words_

_You got my head spinning I don't know where to go from here_

Welcoming his touch, Allie allowed her body to move closer to his as he held her close, closing her eyes as they swayed to the music.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_With nothing to do, nothing to prove_

_And it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

As Allie moved closer, Bradin too closed his eyes welcoming the close-ness of their bodies. He smiled as he felt the light pressure of her head against his neck as their bodies moved in sync to the music.

"Hey look," he whispered into her ears, "It still fits,"

_There's something about you now_

_I can't quite figure it out_

"Hmm.." she replied, smiling unseen to the comment.

_Everything she does is beautiful_

_Everything she does is right_

"Hey, Bradin?" she said opening her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"You're off the hook, okay," she whispered so softly that he almost didn't hear her amidst the music.

"What?" he asked, pulling back to look into her gray orbs.

"Look, I never really put much faith in all that 'if you love someone set them free' crap, as evidenced by everything I've done in my life up to this very moment but.." she paused to draw breath, as though to anchor herself for what she's about to say, "I'm determined to be happy, Bradin, happy in this life and I love you, I mean, I always, I have always, always loved you but our timing has just never been right and the way I figured it, time is no man's friend and I have to get right with that and be happy now, because this is it, this is all that we get. If there is one thing I've learned from working in the hospital and losing Carter, that's what I've learned," she inhaled sharply fighting back the tears collecting in her eyes as she spoke.

"Allie-" he started saying as they both still swayed to the music that seemed to be tinkering far away in the background as they spoke.

"Look, Bradin don't, okay, I'm.. I'm not done yet," she cut through what he had to say, almost struggling for words as the tears threatened to fall, "You know my shrink may be crazy but he's also right on a lot of things and I think that I need to own up to the way I feel, because what I feel is for you to be happy. I want you to be happy because I love you and I want you to be with someone that can make you happy, whether it's Jenny or someone that you've never even met yet, because I do love you, after all these time, I still do. So you're off the hook, okay, you're off the hook," she explained, tears glistening in her eyes as her speech reached it's conclusion as did the song.

_What day is it?_

_And in what month this clock never seems so alive_

"You're off the hook," she repeated herself, "Go and be happy, okay," she pulled away and gave him a peck on his cheek before turning round to leave.

As he watched her walk away from him on the dance floor speechlessly, he spotted a blur of blonde hair whipping out of the heavy set ballroom door. Pushing past the small mass of people on the dance floor, he made his way out of the room and called out after his fiancé.

"Let's not do this tonight, okay," her voice shook slightly as she spoke to him heels clacking and echoing down the hallway on the marble slabs.

"Jen, would you slow down?" he caught on her elbow, pulling her back.

"No, okay, because I do not want to do this, not here, not now," she snapped turning round to face him.

"Do what?" he asked, confused.

"You know that thing, where you pretend to love me, and I pretend that that's the truth when really you're just using me to fill some need you have to be a good guy, and I play along and pretend I don't know cause I just want you to stay with me,"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, I'm not blind, Bradin, and I'm not stupid, I realize that you almost got yourself killed to save her and I refuse to listen to you lie to me about how you've just been 'out of it' lately,"

"You know what, I'll come back when you've calmed down," he said letting go f her holding his hands up backing slightly way from Jenny. There was no talking to her the way he wanted to when she was like this. He may not be sure of how he felt about her but he did know her. And he knew that there was no way they were going to be able to converse rationally when she was being unreasonable, jealous and angry like that.

"Oh so you're just gonna walk away? That's all I get? You're not even gonna bother trying to explain or defend yourself?" she demanded at the top of her voice, angrily and Bradin was surprised that there wasn't a crowd exiting the ballroom to see what the racket was about.

"Jen, can you please just calm down?"

"Oh, what, we're not even gonna talk about it now?"

"You said you didn't want to do this today, so I'm walking away for you to calm down, what do you want from me Jenny?" he asked, losing his patience.

"I want you to care! I get shot at, Bradin, _shot at_, and you go _running_ into a hostage situation! I want you to care, I want you to love me, I know that's what I want but what is it that you want me to do, Bradin, what is it that I have to do for you to look at me the way you look at _her_!?" she exploded, eyes brimming with tears that threatened to leak out, "I can't compete, I.. I just can't.." she continued, "You're not having an affair, you're not trying to hurt me, you're just.. In love with her. And I'm just so hopelessly in love with you but I can't compete with her, I just can't,"

"Jen-" he started saying but it seemed she wasn't finished yet.

"I want you, Bradin, I want all of you, and as corny as this is gonna sound, I want you to want me back," she ploughed on ignoring his attempts to speak.

"Jenny," he said more forcefully this time but yet again, she cut through his sentence.

"I'm going to give you back the ring now, and I'm gonna ask you to decide again and I'm asking you to please, choose me, pick me, because all you have to do is say it. Say it and I'll forget everything, say it and we go back to California and start over, just say it, and I'm yours,"

"Jen.. I.." he struggled for words. She was finished this time, but he couldn't find the words to say. What could he say? Jenny knew. She knew he was still in love with Allie, she knew that she couldn't compete, but he was asking her to decide. How could her?

"Bradin please," she pleaded, tears falling leaving two track marks on her face.

"Jenny, I'd say that, I'd say all of it I would.. but.." he let his voice trail off.

"You won't even lie to me to make me happy?"

"We both know that if I said that, happy would be the last thing we would be," he reasoned with her. How long would she be happy if he stayed with her just because she wanted him to? How long would it take for him to stop caring that he was hurting her?

"You don't know that!" she argued, "I love you Bradin, I. Love. You. and I'm not running anywhere, I love you, and I'm not damaged, or scarred for life or.. Or afraid of it, I love you, and that's all I know," she pleaded, tears still falling, hoping, selfishly wishing, pleading that he would choose her.

"And that's exactly how I feel, Jen, I.. All these years, there's just always been this vital piece of me that's been missing, and I tried to fill it. With work and friends and you. And it stayed empty until she came back into my life, and my entire universe just made sense again," he tried to explain what his life had been. He'd lived all the time without her, he ate, he worked, he cared but he'd been a ghost, until she came back into his life again, he'd been living in a shell. It was like his world roared back to life and he'd found that something that he couldn't afford to lose again.

"But she's running away from you, and she's scared, but I'm not, she's afraid and she's damaged, but I'm not, I'm here,"

"Yeah, she's damaged, cause her mother never wanted her, her dad expected her to be the adult when he drank himself half to death and her grandmother only wanted her to live the life she wanted her to, so yeah, I'd say she has the freaking right to be damaged," he snapped at the blonde in front of him who didn't seem to understand the first thing about the woman he was in love with.

She was stunned for a moment and then there was silence. And then, "I love you, Bradin, and I have since the first moment we locked eyes and it's gonna suck but if you want me to let go then that's what I'm gonna do, if you want me to, but if there is the slightest chance that you feel the way you feel about her about me, the smallest morsel of it, then I'm not going anywhere," she stubbornly argued, holding on, wanting to be the one, wanting, desperately hoping that she still had some sort of a hold over him, somehow, for him to stay.

Bradin looked into her pleading clear blue eyes. Wondering if he DID want her to let go.

_A/N So __who's it gonna be Bradin? Is it Jenny, or is it Allie? Do you like the blonde, or do you like the brunette? Muahaha.. Cliffhanger! Haha.. Okay, no, I'm just kidding.. I really don't wanna be covered with rotten food really._

Bradin walked down the dark corridors of the hospital and found her where he knew she'd be. Sitting in the dark hospital room which was one Carter O'Connell's over a month ago, still in her gown, on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest. Even with her eyes red, two obvious tear tracks on her cheeks, hair slightly disheveled, she'd still looked as beautiful as ever.

He entered the room and upon hearing footsteps, instinctively she wiped the tears off her face and pulled herself off the bed, like a child scampering to hide the cookies when caught stealing them from the jar.

"I.. " she began when she saw it was him, before letting her voice trail off.

"The one I want.. Is you," he announced, "I want you, I.. You're the one that makes me happy,"

"Bradin, I.." she started but he cut her off.

"Actually, I'm not.. I'm not done yet. I don't wanna be let off the hook, Allie, cause everything in my life that I've done has led me here, right now and the last thing I want, need or deserve is to be let off somebody's hook,"

"Bradin, I love you, okay, and you know that. And I loved Carter, he's my soul mate, he's my first love, he's tied to my childhood in ways that you'll never understand, and the ties that binds us are just impossible to explain and they connect us even after he's gone, defying distance and time and logic, and-" what she had to say next however was cut off.

"Damn it, Allie, I'm here, I'm alive, and I choose you, I ran toward a man with a gun to save you, for crying out loud, and I just broke the heart of someone who feels the way I do about you about me and I know that you lost someone you love and that's not easy, but I'm saying I love you and I choose you, why won't you just won't let me?" he snapped

"I said goodbye," she sobbed after his outburst, "I said goodbye, and.. I took off the ring, and I.. I said goodbye, okay, I said goodbye," she said holding up her ring empty hand, "What I'm trying to say is I loved Carter, loved, past tense because he's not here anymore, and I love you, Love, present tense because you're here and I love you and if you would just let me finish -"

But he didn't because she had him at goodbye and he had swept over and held the sides of her face covering her mouth with his not letting her finish whatever she had in mind to say. Tears still streaming, her hands found its way to his neck and pulled him closer and deeper into their embrace. As she returned the passion of their kiss, Bradin wanted more than anything to kiss away the tears still trickling down her cheeks, wanting to hold her until it didn't matter anymore as he kissed her hungrily the way he'd been wanting to for so long.

But when they did pull apart for air, they stayed in one another's embrace leaning in on each other, foreheads touching as Allie watched Bradin try to collect himself because kissing her still sent electric sparks through his body and had his lips tingling exactly the way they did before.

And right then at that moment, in the dark room, with Allie in his arms, he his world felt right, and everything was at its right place again.

_A/N FINALLY!!! Right? Haha.. I know.. I mean you guys have been just waiting for this to happen since chapter 1 right? Haha.. And finally it's here! Yay! Haha.. Hope you enjoyed it. I know it's been a little OMG Just throw them back together already for all of the 22 chapters but I just feel that you need that dash of drama and dollop of hoops to jump through just to make things interesting. I mean, the whole 'as soon as they see each other again they get back together regardless of everything else or the consequences' kinda crap just really doesn't do it for me.._

_But anway, no.. No the end of the road yet.. So wait for the next one.. Promise it won't take totally too long.. But anyhoo, drop a review, tell me what you think.. Good or bad, love to hear from ya! Clickie the review button, I say! Haha.._

_mAnomaly.._


	24. Chapter 24

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N 'Tis the season to be jolly falalalala lalalala.. Haha.. Well well.. Put down the pitchforks and torches and pebbles and try to refrain from running me out of FanFiction just yet cause I've a full chapter of Bradin/Allie-ness.. Some bit of fluff, some bit of drama, a pinch of this, a pi__n__ch of that, sounds good innit? Haha.! Okay, to explain, my lap top, died on me, literally, and I had to sen__d__ it in and ALL my chapters were in there, everything, my chapters, plot lines, outline EVERYTHING. So I had to endure __2__ month__s__ of no writing, and I literally went through withdrawal with chronic insomnia from not being able to write or update __among other things._

_But first, thank you__** ShiaLover09, angel_prncess_18**__ for the raving reviews, you guys are awesome, and especially to __**virgo4rmga**__ who noticed the references and borrowed quotes from other beloved tv shows, and __**6Ellie6**__, thank you thank you thank you, you totally rock my socks, ALL of you do! _

_This next one's broken into several different parts, it would actually run much smoother if you pretended this was an episode of some TV drama with all the different scenes.. So anyway, again, __thank you for still reading and forgiving *ah ah ahem!* my un-updates__ and __enjoy__the next Bradin/Allie filled chapter! __Oh and, Happy Valentine's Day! Haha.. Or rather for us singles, Happy Singles Awareness Day.. Enjoy.._

**Collide**

_Allie flumped back onto the bed after taking a shower in the tidy and not overly opulently decorated room dressed in an oversized shirt. Feeling slightly adventurous, she rolled over the large unfamiliar bed to the side table. She picked up one of the several remotes at random and pressed what she assumed to be the on button aiming at nowhere at particular. A flat screen appeared on the wall opposing the bed and she almost laughed._

_Men and their gadgets, she thought. Flipping the channels, she landed on one playing Grey's Anatomy reruns from the very first season._

… _**Within the walls of the hospital, the truth is stripped bare. How we keep our secrets outside the hospital – well, that's a little different. One thing is certain, whatever it is we're trying to hide; we're never ready for that moment when the truth gets naked. That's the problem with secrets – like misery, they love company. They pile up and up until you don't have room for anything else, until you're so full of secrets you feel like you're going to burst.**_

"Nausea, headache and mental confusion," the Chief of surgery pushed the file into brunette doctor's hand snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Ah.. Bad sushi is so hard to diagnose," Aaliyah commented sarcastically as she flipped though the file before handing it back and boldly stating, "I'm needed on the Operating Floor,"

The middle aged man gave her a raised eyebrow.

"'Needed' might be stretching it a tad, but I got my psych clearance and I am not staying down here in this pit full of random flu's and coughs or bad sandwich for.."

"Allie.." Jace warned.

"Jace, I got the psych clearance you requested and it's been 2 months since I've so much as seen the OR, dude had some bad food, pack him up with antibiotics and discharge you don't need to be chief of surgery to know that,"

"If this case is really as trivial as you think it should take 3 minutes,"

"Uh-huh.. 3 minutes that I could spend being up in the OR," she retorted.

"You're being childish, this may be insignificant but it is high profile, go with the other intern and do the exam," Jace ordered.

"Jace, this is Lennox Hill, we're a private hospital in the Upper East Side, every case is high profile," Allie argued.

"Go with the other intern and do a physical," Jace repeated himself firmly and pressed the file to her hands before walking off.

Turning on her heel, she went to find Paige before headed to the exam room wondering why this one particular case had the chief of surgery pulling away his 2 surgical interns to conduct a physical exam on a pro surfer who had all the symptoms of food poisoning. Locating the red head intern they both headed toward the exam room but upon arrival Allie realized that the pro surfer wasn't all a stranger, "Lucas? Oh my god, wow, hey,"

"Allie, wow, hey! What are you doing here?"

"I'll give you a hint, white coat, stethoscope, your medical file?"

"You're a doctor now,"

"Yeah, this is Dr. Sawyer, we're gonna do some standard tests, ask some questions and you should be on your way," Allie took the stethoscope off her neck and tested his heartbeat.

"Thanks, and I appreciate the keeping the media away,"

"We're keeping your staff away as well, coach, PR, PA.." Paige commented.

"I'm in mid-tournament," the male stated aghast with this piece of information.

"Easy there, the faster we get you better, the faster you get back out in the water," Allie answered while checking his pupils with her flashlight for normal light activity, "How's Callie?" she asked, changing the subject to his known on off girlfriend and current fiancé.

"Good, good, we're.."

"Good?"

"Yeah,"

At that moment the exam room door opened and in strided a blonde hair green eyed doctor, "Luke," Allie looked away and fussed over some other instrument on the table before deciding to check his temperature.

"Bradin, my man, you look good,"

"Dr. Westerly," Paige greeted the attending.

"Yeah, you not so much," Bradin retorted before nodding briefly to acknowledge the intern before taking the file from her and reading it

"Screw you, when was the last time you got in the water, or a gym for that matter?" the patient came back with, "Even Allie looks more in shape than you are,"

"Come on, Manhattan Beach ain't that far out, you two have get together some time,"

"Professionally, yeah," came to a quick reply, "Outside not so much," Allie continued as she picked up something else and decided to check on the patients knee reflexes next. There was a short pause as both the attending and patient were shocked by the implementation of what the intern had just said.

"Did anyone else at the meet get sick?" the other intern in the room asked, breaking through the silence, unphased by the sudden awkward silence.

"Uh.. No, I don't think that's the problem I've been under the weather for weeks, you know, lots of traveling, food on the go.. What's wrong?" he changed what he was saying mid-sentence as Allie paused after repeatedly knocking on his left knee and having no reaction.

"I somehow don't think food's the problem," Allie looked up at Bradin.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Lucas asked, sounding worried and afraid now.

"We don't know yet but there may be something wrong with your brain," Bradin stated, closing the file in his hand, "We're going to have to do an MRI and a lumbar puncture, Dr. Sawyer," Bradin employed the redhead intern to the execution of his orders leaving him and Allie in the room. They were both quiet as they stared at each other before Allie broke eye contact to clear away the instruments. She gave a small shriek as his hand caught her wrist and pulled her back to him. The sound died on her lips as his crashed against hers in a way they never had before. He forced her mouth open, his tongue sweeping against her teeth before delving deeper and his hand fisted in the hair at the nape of her neck.

Allie was accepting and pulled his body closer as his hand dropped from her hair to join the one at her waist and he forced her backwards until she collided with the bed, which only moments before held a patient and an old friend of theirs, lifting her up to rest on it as he continued his assault on her mouth. Her nails sunk into his back and her hips moved against him in a way he had never dreamed she would and he was seconds from ridding them both of their clothing before pulling away, "Well this doesn't seem very professional to me," he commented lightheartedly slightly out of breath.

Allie sighed, "I just think we should keep it to ourselves for a bit, see what happens,"

"Meet in supply closets? Pass each other secret notes in the hallway?" he suggested and she laughed before placing her forehead on his.

"Yeah, secrets are kinda hot,"

"Hmm.. Definitely.."

XXX

"The MRI and lumbar puncture came out fairly clean but there's a lesion in his brain," Allie reported to his attending with a burst of professionalism as the red headed intern stood next to her and handed the attending the concurrent files and test results.

"It could just be a shadow," Paige piped in as Bradin held up the film against the light studying it. The test results came didn't come back with much and the patient's condition was in no way improving. They had had this particular argument a dozen times over and Paige was not letting up.

"It can't be, his symptoms get worse, he's starting to have difficulty breathing and slight numbness to his feet," Allie rehashed her argument while Bradin was still looking at the films very closely, probably deciding whether it was indeed a lesion or just a cast off shadow of something else.

"Well, we really won't be able to tell anything unless we get a piece of that 'shadow' to look under the microscope," Bradin said putting down the film, finally making up his mind.

"You want to order brain biopsy based off of a lesion in the MRI?" Allie asked, shocked.

"Nice," Paige whispered.

"You said it yourself, his symptoms are getting worse, and this is the only thing we've got right now,"

"So you want to perform a very life threatening procedure that could leave the guy paralyzed or dead because it's the only clue we have to go on with?" Allie challenged her attending, she was a fan of surgery and gut instincts, but even that seemed to stretch a little too far. Especially since the person involved was someone they both knew and cared for.

"Oooh, since Allie is so clearly against performing the procedure, can I assist?"

"Paige!" Allie snapped, turning to look at her.

"Hey, if you don't want it, give it to a sister who does," Paige defended herself, "Better me than slimy Ned anyway right?"

"Alright then, Sawyer, you'll assist, Montgomery, you'll run the labs when we're done," Bradin ordered and the three went off to work.

Some hours later, Allie was in the lab anxiously waiting on some results she heard the glass door of the lab slide open.

"What are we waiting on?"

"HIV test," Allie replied.

"I thought you ran it already?" Bradin asked, moving closer.

"It could have been a false positive,"

"Optimism," he stated, cocking his eyebrows studying her for a moment before saying, "Looks weird on you, take it off," he chuckled.

"Look, I know all the facts, that Toxoplasmosis this advanced can't have happened unless he had a severely compromised immune system which fits if he has AIDS but if he did have it, don't you think Callie would be showing some symptoms of HIV as well?"

"Different incubation periods in different people,"

"You seem to very at ease in believing that Lucas is dying of a disease aided by HIV,"

"He's a sports guy, they shoot up all sorts of crap, is it weird that I find it unsurprising that he has HIV?"

"I find it surprising that you seem okay that your friend is dying,"

"I'm okay with a lot of things as long as I'm around you," he replied smoothly, letting his arms slid around her waist in a loose embrace as he kissed her lightly. Her eyes slid close as the kiss deepened and let her hand run up his neck and tangle itself in his hair, linking her fingers together and pulling him closer. Allie gave in to bliss and stopped thinking as his lips moved down to her neck, pressing against her pressure point.

"What are we doing?" Bradin muffled the words against her throat chuckling slightly before moving back up to kiss her lips, momentarily taking her breath away.

"I have no idea," came to a quick reply as Allie leaned back in for another quick kiss.

"But we should talk about this don't you think?" he asked after their lips parted for the second time.

"Yeah, definitely," Allie answered dismissively, pulling away slightly, and looking away.

"Look, if this really bothers you.." he started saying when she cut him off.

"It doesn't bother me," she quipped quickly, straightening her white coat, avoiding his piercing gaze.

"You just don't want to share this particular bit of information about your life with your colleagues and friends,"

"It's none of their business," she snapped.

"What, are you afraid of what people will say?"

"No!"

"Hospital rules?"

"No!"

"Jace? Barrish? The other interns?" he continued attacking her with questions in an upshot that he may catch her unaware.

"No, no and no!"

"Then why don't you want people to know?" he asked finally, frustrated.

She opened her mouth to retort but none came as they were interrupted by a beep from the machine. Grateful for the interruption, she stepped away from Bradin and went for the results. Glancing down the paper, her expression changed.

XXX

"Your T cell count is 8, which means there's a good chance you'll die," Allie explained in a burst of professionalism to the patient lying on his deathbed, "And I'm telling you this because we need to inform your sexual partners,"

There was a long pregnant pause.

"I've only been with 2 other girls apart from Callie, 2,"

"Lucas.." she started saying.

"I used condoms!"

"Do you know the chances of getting HIV from heterosexual sex with a condom? You need to stop lying to me, Luke," she stated, laying it all down for him, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing.. I just.. I'm.."

"Formulating a lie, realizing it's futile and begrudgingly tell the truth?"

"What do you want to hear from me?" he questioned, looking defeated.

"I don't know, the truth? Because I know you don't shoot up, not even a little coke or steroid cause your tox screen came out clean and yet you have AIDS, and I know it's not a false positive cause I ran the test twice, so either you're lying to me or.." she let her voice trail off, "You're lying to me,"

"I'm not lying to you," Lucas insisted, looking as tired as ever, it happens when you've a deadly bacteria and toxin in your body eating away your brain she supposed.

"Lucas-" Allie started saying again but was interrupted.

"I'm not, okay, I've only been with 2 girls during all my time apart from Callie, but I've been with some other.. Not girls," he said reluctantly, unable to meet her eyes. Aaliyah was confused for a moment, and then realization dawned on her, she closed her eyes, hardly believing what he was saying.

"And.. Callie?" she asked.

"I love her, just.. Not in that way, I.. Look, you have no idea what people will think if they knew," he began, "It was one guy, One. We met at the bar, it went on for a couple of weeks when I was in that town and then I broke it off,"

"You had sex with some random guy you met at a gay bar?" she asked, disbelieving, this was way too much information for a person to digest, all of that in less than 5 minutes, her head was spinning as Lucas tried to explain himself.

"I was tired of lying, it was nice to be who I actually was instead of what people think I should be,"

"Luke.." she started but he cut her off.

"The job.. It takes everything away from you, your privacy, your life, you gotta be perfect, and it was just tiring, and I wanted to be who I was, for once, no regrets, no worries, and.." his voice trailed off. Each breath, each word difficult on him. He was dying. And he knew he was dying. Because there was no way his body would be able to fight off any infection at that point, even if he survived the toxoplasmosis. If not because of this, then something else, because his body's immune system had just been too compromised.

She turned to leave and saw Bradin at the doorway. His eyes glanced from her to the patient and he looked as if he was about to enter but then changed his mind, turning and walking away.

Hours later, true to her diagnosis, Lucas didn't make it, his immune system was too compromised to fight the toxo, and even if his body had been able to fight, it would have been one lop sided battle. Allie and Bradin were packing his things into a box to for his managers as they did all that was required to release his body, belongings and et cetera to have him sent back to Playa Linda.

"Well, that's all of it," Allie whispered as she passed the final belonging of his things to Bradin as he taped it up. The task was usually reserved for nurses, but they had known the patient personally, and it was a slow night anyway so rules were bent a little.

"The entire existence of a person summed up into the belongings he had with him at the time of death," Bradin muttered darkly, after a moment, "You know, I still can't believe it,"

"That Lucas was gay?" Allie wondered aloud.

"That he thought he couldn't tell me, that he felt he needed to hide it from me,"

"He wasn't afraid of telling you, he was afraid of telling people, period. He's a great surfer, but if the public knew about this, how'd you think they'd react? He's practically a celebrity, and as a sportsperson, it wouldn't be about his abilities anymore, it'd be about his private life and.. He couldn't live like that, could you?" she defended him.

"No but.. I wouldn't have thought less about him being gay you know, I only wanted him to be happy, with Callie, blondie, or ditzy or even some dude," he said sadly in a voice so heartbreaking.

"He was afraid of losing everything he had, the deference, the admiration, the respect, everything that he worked so hard to earn," Allie continued, "I sorta get it," she added, silently, but she was pretty sure he heard her.

There was a pause before, "You know the people in the hospital are not gonna think any less of you just because we're together,"

Allie wanted to look up at him and assure him that it wasn't the problem, that she wasn't afraid of the hospital or the other interns or what they'd say, she wanted to hold his hand right then and be there for him through his grief of losing a friend and tell him to ignore her recent crazy ass attitude but instead she changed the topic, "What are you gonna tell Callie?"

And then there was another pause as she avoided his piercing green gaze, he sighed, "I don't know.. The truth, I guess. Lying bout it won't make it an easier anyway,"

And with that, he took the box and walked off, leaving Allie alone.

"You should totally go for him," a voice came up from behind her, and Allie turned to see Cooper nstanding next to her, "Yeah, you'd make a cute couple, the two of you," Paige's familiar voice chipped in.

'Screw it,' Allie thought as she called out after him, "Bradin!" and raced down the hall toward him.

He'd turned around just as she reached him.

"Look, it's not that I'm afraid of letting people know, or the intern attending rules, or what people think, the interns, the nurses, or.. or the hoops Jace and Barrish will make me jump through," Aaliyah started with the comings of the ritualistic nervous ramblings she launches into in awkward situations, "I don't care about all that, it.. It doesn't matter to me, but you do and the reason why I didn't want to tell anyone is because the minute I do, the second people know, it becomes real and when it becomes real, people get hurt and I don't want people to get hurt, especially you, or me, I mean I've always run away from getting hurt, always, and then we see Lucas and his great big bad secret and I mean, it didn't exactly end up great for the guy, you know, and so I guess what I'm saying is that I'm just scared of getting hurt again, but I'm not running anymore okay, not from you so I just wanna-"

"Will you just shut up so I can kiss you already?" Bradin laughed and she exhaled before he pulled her lips to his in a passionate embrace.

"Well, about time," the gay intern down the hall said exaggeratedly, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, and I thought she was never gonna admit it," Paige chuckled before they both walked off giving their friend some privacy.

_**The thing people forget is how good it can feel when you finally set secrets free. Whether good or bad, at least they're out in the open, like it or not. And once your secrets are out in the open, you don't have to hide behind them anymore. The problem with secrets is even when you think you're in control, you're not.**_

_A/N Got about approximately 7(?) more chapters.? Just so you know cause I've been getting lot a questions bout that one. _

_Anywho.. References to Grey's Anatomy, is property of ABC, I own nothing! __No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended__ yada yada.._

_So anyway, it's kinda messy, I know, sorry bout that, but I didn't really have time to read through and check it. Liked it, didn't? You know the drill.. Drop a review and a penny for my thoughts. Constructive criticism always welcomed!_

_mAnomaly._


	25. Chapter 25

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N : I am.. So……… Sorry for leaving coming back for one chapter then leaving again. Really. Truly. I just got really stuck at writing this chapter and then moved on to something else. I know I know. I Suck. But hey, I AM back! And I'm determined to stay back until this is 100 percent completed. So, hold onto your rotten fruit first okay? Pretty please?_

_Oh and yes, if you feel kind enough, go check out my other stuff I've written while I ignored this fic, I'd appreciate comments and constructive criticism all the same. But moving on to replies…_

_**JustTheGirl07**__ – Sorry it took so long to update. Life happened. ._

_**CaliXOBabiOX**__ – Thank You thank you.. So much, I'm glad yo liked it. And I'm glad you're excited for the upcoming chappies.. I hope you're still reading.. Cause I did abandon this a little too long, sorry for that, but I'm in it for the long haul this time, till its Completed.. Promise. *wink.._

**_Angel_princess_18_**_** – **No, no way, I'd stop. I'll definitely finish it, though it's taken me a while to get back on this bandwagon, I got a little side tracked, but worry not, absolutely focused and ON the wagon this time round. :)_

_**6Ellie6 – **So sorry you had to wait so long for this one, I went sorta AWOL too, glad you didn't though, let's make a pact to both definitely finish our Summerland fic, eh?_

_Oh and Drama is back in town. With a Capital D y'all! Among other things that __i__s *wink. Haha.. Okay, I'll let you find out for yourselves, Enjoy.._

**Collide**

Allie awoke with a clear white light shining into her eyes. She closed them quickly, burrowing quickly back beneath the covers, turning away from the sensory overabundance in the early morning. The window on her side was open and the soft breeze came every now and then along with the sounds of waves crashing against the coast, hugging the shore and she could have sworn she heard the sounds of birds twittering as well.

Wait a minute..

She rolled over, cautiously opening one of her eyes as she lifted her head up to peek out the window and saw the sun was glimmering in a distance like a huge orb of light suspended just above the clear blue waters.

What the hell?

Shocked, Allie twisted to her other side and to her surprise, landed with a thump onto the floor alongside the tangled mess of the covers she was wrapped in.

Damn, she'd gotten way too used to king sized beds.

A soft chuckle came from the other side of the room and she looked up to see one green eyed blonde male, watching her humorously. And it seemed he had been for a while. Bleary eyed and mind still slightly hazed, she recognized him, the room however, not so much. It was just there, on the tip of her mind, but hidden somewhere far at the back of her head.

And then she remembered.

They were in the boat house. Her temporary room for a period in senior year, before she left that was. Bradin had suggested a trip back home for the weekend on their days off to join in on the Playa Linda High reunion and of course, in typical motherly fashion, Ava wouldn't hear of them staying in a hotel and so they bunked into the boat house which they had surprisingly changed nothing except exchanged the king sized bed for two singles. After Bradin moved away for college, Ava had shoved both the single beds into the boat house once Nikki had outgrown the attic. And it seemed it occurred to no one to clear out the room for some extra space. They'd just left it as it was.

"How can you still find this funny?" Allie asked on the floor, frowning petulantly like a child at Bradin who was still laughing at her as she pulled herself upright.

"How can you still fall out of bed?" he countered.

"Hey, it's a small bed!" she dignantly defended herself, "And I'll have you know, I've gotten very used to.. Well.. Bigger beds,"

He chuckled, remembering well how Allie was not a morning person.

It had been nearly thirty minutes since Bradin had woken up and he wasn't sure how much longer he could lie in the squishy bed but after catching sight of Allie on the bed on the other side of the room, he couldn't help but stare as the sunlight spilling into the room framed her face so beautifully as she serenely and blissfully continues snoozing. All hopes of falling back to sleep went out the door, even when it had been a very late night, and not in the way he had hoped for as the entire Westerly/Durant/Montgomery clan had their reunion that ended not after dinner but dragged on to charades, pictionary and many glasses of wine.

If he hadn't been awake, the sound of her flumping onto the wooden based floorboards certainly did the trick.

"Hey, come here," he extended his arms to her as she moaned and got to her feet, untangling herself from the comforter, "Now, I don't know about you, but I could definitely use with a bit more sleep," he said pulling her close and under the covers with him.

"You pulled me into this uncomfortably squishy bed to sleep?" she asked in disbelief, the implication behind the words very clear.

"Maybe," he said, dragging the word as his eyes fixated on her lower lip.

She smirked, knowing the full effect she had on him.

And then with one big gust of air, he caught her lips and brought his hand up to the back of her head, crushing them into his. He hadn't meant to, but he couldn't deny any longer the fact that there was a semi naked girl in his bed with him under the sheets with her legs tangled around his. He really could not see himself not making the most of their situation, not like she complained of course, allowing for the kiss to slowly escalate. Bringing her hand to his hair, Allie fisted the back of it, pulling his face closer.

Opening her mouth and dragging her tongue across his bottom lip, he darted his tongue out, drawing a soft moan from her lips as their tongues continued the erotic duel. Pulling away from Allie's lips, he started kissing his way down her throat instead and both gasped for air with their chests were pressed together so tightly that they were panting the same rhythm.

Although thankful for the privacy of not being disturbed in the morning, Bradin almost wished Ava or someone would come knocking on the door. At least then they'd summon enough self-control to stop. They'd been back together for a while, and had not yet proceeded with the actual act sleeping together again. It wasn't something that could be helped, but there wasn't exactly literature or reference to be studied on how long you keep from actually go back to really sleeping with an ex that was no longer an ex, and both really wanted to take their time, reveling in the sensory overload of each touch and kiss, so they had kept their interactions strictly PG13.

Before that very moment anyway.

Making his way back to her mouth, he darted out his tongue and they clashed together with hers as she moaned. The sound that sent the shivers up his spine, among other places, and pulled her in tighter against himself, feeling her press up against all the right spots.

Allie was panting into his mouth as he groaned, a groan that told both of them that they were too far gone, and true that, he rolled them over, releasing the inner hormonal teenager within them, holding his upper body up with on palm on the bed that provided little support. Bradin was idly wondering if they were going too far but when she fisted her hand into his hair again, pulling him closer, tilting her own head to plunge her tongue deeper, drawing another smothered groan from him, he let his palm go completely, pressing into her completely just as he wanted to.

Moaning softly into his mouth at the contact, Allie began feeling slightly light headed from the lack of oxygen, and it seemed Bradin felt it too as he pulled away. But he was too far gone to just stop, his lips made its way down her jaw instead, trailing kisses down to her neck, making his way up again as she arched her back in unabashed bliss and let out a hearty moan.

By reflex, and not having done it in so long, he bucked his hips into hers and she lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist in reaction, whimpering softly, her fists pushing his face into her neck. Growling, Bradin shoved into her again, rougher, basking in the friction of their bodies intertwined sheathed by nothing but underwear and thin pajama pants.

Breath raspy and hoarse, Bradin removed his lips from the neighborhood of her ear long enough to whisper a small, "We should stop," before continuing up her jaw line.

"Uh uh," she shook her head and captured his lips with hers, allowing for the sexually frustrated hormonal teenagers trapped in the body of adults to totally take over, proceeding to continuing their absolutely definitely WA-a-ay OVER PG13 make out session.

And that they did. For three straight hours.

"Aren't you getting hungry?" Allie wondered aloud.

"Starving," he groaned before planting another kiss at the neighborhood of her ear.

"So what do you feel like having for breakfast?" Allie asked.

"Sex?" he mused aloud, "Lots and lots and lots of sex?" he suggested before leaning down to capture her lips with his again.

"Well, I was thinking more on the lines of you know, pancakes, waffles, with whipped cream, honey, chocolate" she offered coyly instead.

"Wow, totally bruised pride," he stated, pushing himself up with his palm again.

"So that's a no?" she innocently asked, "Even if I were to say you could have the whipped cream, honey and chocolate off of me?"

"I'll check the fridge," he gallantly offered before rolling out of bed and springing out of the door so quickly, leaving Allie on the bed laughing.

And there seemed to be nothing really worthy of a good breakfast in bed in the kitchen so they drove out to the nearby diner instead, opting to for a hearty take out for the breakfast that was planned to be enjoyed in bed.

What they had Both not known was that a lot can happen in one drive for take out.

"Bradin Westerly," the voice cut through the semi-crowded diner and Allie paused with the mug in her hands, halfway up to her lips.

She was not one to eavesdrop but her mind automatically reacted to the mentioned name and everything else around dissolved except the sound of the annoyingly high, nasal voice. She had no clue what else was said before that, but with that being said, she had no chance of blocking the familiarly annoying voice out any longer.

Aaliyah had caught sight of the mane of blonde when she entered but she had managed her route to the counter to place her take out order such that she would avoid seeing or being seen by the brigade of bimbo's sitting together, but it seems that Mr. Ironic Mustache was done with his breakfast and stood up ready to leave, leaving nothing whatsoever in the space between them except air.

"Best lay ever, hands down," Blondie announced braggingly, sounding somewhat proud, as if it were some sort of an accomplishment.

Allie's vision turned red and her blood boiled. She'd always known Bradin had gotten around, but slutty Vanessa of the Barbie Brigade?

The other annoying nasal voice burst out into giggles, "I so knew you were gonna say Westerly, even if it was just a drunken screw like a decade ago,"

And Vanessa merely shrugged smugly. "Hey, we were kids, but he was a very experienced kid,"

"He's back you know," the other voice coyly drawled out.

"Are you serious? I heard he dropped that perfect blondie doctor Jenny," Vanessa asked, tone scandalous.

"Oh yeah, totally, and then he ran to New York, I wonder if he's back for the reunion?"

"Probably, and cruising for a hook up too now that he's single, so give me the skinny on Westerly, I mean he probably got even better now but you're clearly not gonna be hittin' that again, so come on, give me something to work for at the reunion,"

At that Allie held her breath and mentally fought herself to further block out the annoying voices of the post-teen Barbie Brigades just a seat away from her on the counter.

"Okay, Fan-freaking-tastic kisser, no kidding," Vanessa twirled a lock of her hair, starting timidly, wading the waters testily instead of jumping into the details.

Her hands gripped the mug in her hands tightly, so tightly her knuckles writhed white in protest.

"And.. Oh, those hands.. Total heaven," she breathed dreamily, closing her eyes.

Allie stared into the mug of coffee, letting her hair slide down the side of her face and cover her ears, concentrating on the dark brown liquid, willing herself to block the voices out.

"And of course," she ploughed on, "He was like the broody type then, so you know, he talked dirty," she snickered before continuing, "Oh, and the sounds that he made when I-"

It couldn't be helped but her hand spasmed at that precise moment and she extended her hand straight down the counter and emptied the mug over the counter with a splash.

"What the frick?!" Vanessa shrieked as she stood up from the splash of coffee in front of her, turning to face Allie, "Oh my god, Allie, is that you?" she voiced, tone changing from outraged to disbelief in mere seconds.

"The one and only," Allie replied, forcing a smile and a chipper voice taking in the appearance of the fake blonde in front of her wearing a skirt way too short considering the very obvious baby bump.

"Wow, how awkward for you," Vanessa smiled sickeningly sweet, "You know seeing as I had sex with your ex and all,"

"I'm guessing 'and all' in this context means you dishing your sexual exploits with my ex that's not so much an ex anymore?" Allie retorted pausing for a moment to allow the statement to sink in, "Yeah pretty awkward," she nodded as all the Mrs. Way-past-their-primes-and-trying-very-desperately-to-hold-on-to-their-youth's gaped at her.

"By the way, if you plan to kiss your baby with that mouth, I suggest you wash it," she advised.

"Well as I recall, what I do with my mouth to your 'not so much ex anymore' at the graduation party made him moan like you'd never believe," she cattily drawled, air quoting the 'not so much ex anymore'.

"Like I said, I'd wash my mouth if I were you, wouldn't want to give your baby herpes now would you," she said coolly before grabbing the timely served take out on the counter before dropping the bills and walking away.

Surely it was irrational for her to be this jealous of Vanessa. It was years ago. And she had him now. And she was pretty sure that all those years ago, she had him then, no matter what the circumstances they'd hooked up on. But then it snapped into her mind what Vanessa had said.

_"__..what I do with my mouth to your 'not so much ex anymore' at the graduation party made him moan like you'd never believe__ "_

That couldn't be right. But the words were now seared into her mind like someone had imprinted them there.

_"__..at the graduation party..__"_

She definitely said graduation party. And it would fit. Except it didn't. Or did it?

_"Allie, last night I.." he said, trailing off, thinking of the right words to say and phrasing it right._

_"Last night, what I said, I meant it, every word of it.." he started again only to let out a sigh, unable to continue. _

_And then there was a soft moan from behind him and he closed his eyes, ashamed as Allie looked into his room to identify the source of the sound, wondering if she heard right._

_"Do you even know who it is or.." she started saying a hint of pain briefly flitting across her face._

_"Callie," he automatically responded and Aaliyah exhaled__, closing here eyes._

"Hey, so what did you get?" a voice snapped her out of the thoughts. The familiar voice. The familiar warm beautiful voice. And the beautiful green eyes. She had floated out of the diner and back into the car in a cloud, not registering that her feet was moving.

"Did you.." she began asking before looking into his eyes for a moment, searching, and actually managing the words.

"Did you and Vanessa have sex after graduation?"

_A/N : There we go, with a slice of.. Almost (?) lemon slid in in the middle. It's really not my kinda thing but hey, I thought I'd give it a go.. Your thoughts? You know you want too.. Haha.._

_xo_

_mAnomaly._


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N** I know I know.. I suck.. But I am sorry, and I do have a legitimate excuse for my prolonged absence.

But seriously, I just got back from Japan for a long holiday with my family. I had to go computer-less for almost 2 weeks and no one to speak too apart from my parents and sis so needless to say, I was ready to kill myself or rather someone by the end of the trip. It was like being stuck in your own head for 2 weeks.

Not to mention, after taking a long leave there's just so much to do at work. First day back and my table looked like a bomb site. I guess that's what happens when interns go on vacation. Meh, at any rate, here's the next one, I'm so sorry for taking so long to get it up. I lost my thumb drive with EVERYTHING in it a couple of days ago and I felt really uninspired to write but then I got my shit together for a good few hours to re-construct this one so the next one won't be long. I hope. .

Oh and I'm ALSO sorry for not replying reviews as well, I'll get to it soon, my e-mail was just so spilling with crap that's I'd have to sit down and clear it all out one day.

Okay okay, I'll shut up now, go ahead, enjoy..

**Collide**

_"Did you and Vanessa have sex after graduation?"_

'Why on earth did I get myself suckered into this ordeal,' was what came to mind as Allie stared across the expensive looking hall with the soft tinkering music in the back ground and room full of should have been familiar faces. It was a reunion party, you'd think that you would recognize Some people that you attended the same school with 10 years ago, but no, apart from the obvious people she wanted to avoid, she caught no sight of anybody she could associate herself with.

_The question seemed to grow and press all the air out of the space between them._

She let almost let out a groan of frustration but was rescued by a passing by waiter with a tray full drinks. Picking up a fluke before tipping her head back to down the entire contents, she set it back down on the tray and picked up another as the alcohol burning sensation travelled down her belly.

_The silence was enough of an omission for her._

_Not to mention the look of guilt that shone in his eyes. Mixed with the look of embarrassment that you'd see on a kid who was caught with his hands in a cookie jar._

In her opinion, Allie would be needing a lot more than just alcohol to get through the night, as she spotted a particular blonde with a protruding belly across the room whilst pretending to still be engaged in the conversation with.. Tad..? Tag? Or was it Todd? She couldn't remember, but apparently they had homeroom together and he was now a lawyer of sort, the sort who had a big office up on the umpteenth floor of a large building and ruthlessly ate Defense Attorney's for breakfast. Also in the conversation discussing something particularly dry was Graham or Greg or Grindewald something who was an accountant? Broker? Not that she was paying attention to either man anyway.

_"I asked you who it was, point blank,"__ she turned to look into his green eyes, honest and open, her voice breaking wondering what other things he 'edited' from her knowledge as her hands landed on the dashboard again, colliding with a thud._

_"And I lied, point blank," he answered, letting his gaze falter, flickering downward in shame._

Not even having been two seconds in the room, she was bombarded with a swamp of guests. She would not have given a second thought to blowing these people off had she actually arrived with Bradin as originally planned but, she could never do that now, not when she was trying to avoid him and another certain individual like the bubonic plague. Having surround herself in the company of these strangers right now would be her best bet of surviving the night now that she had no luck whatsoever in locating the people she actually knew in high school, ie JJ, Kirsten, Zac, Connor. So instead, she would have to stand there, answering their questions, smiling politely and laughing at their lame attempts at being funny and grin through their pissing contest in attempts of 'winning the lady'.

_"__You know __I am so genuinely sick right now that __if__ I'd have eaten anything, I'd be throwing up all over the car right now,__"__ Allie seethed._

Her eyes continued to wander around the room until they spotted where she assumed the restrooms were. Quickly excusing herself from the people, she made her way towards it. Closing the doors behind her, she walked over to the lavish large mirrors hanging on the wall behind the counters and let out a deep breath that she hadn't even realize she was holding. Society gatherings were really not her thing.

She really would not have come. Allie had wanted to pack her bags and hop back onto a plane back out to New York, but no, she didn't want to go back to Ava's, so instead she went boutique hopping to look for some clothes, for a lack of a better thing to do to keep herself busy, before paying and slipping into a black dress and wandered aimlessly around town a little longer before absentmindedly entering a hairdressers to get her hair done. One thing led to another and before she knew it she was ready for a night out. So, hopping onto a taxi, she made her way to the hotel where the 'grand reunion' was held and as the taxi approached each set of traffic lights, she had hoped for it to turn red, with no such luck.

The traffic on the streets of Playa Linda was for once, nonexistent and despite her prayers, a tsunami didn't suddenly decide to hit drowning out Playa Linda entirely, nor did an earthquake happen, swallowing the small beach town whole, nor did a volcano erupt. And hell refused to freeze over as well. Well, it was just her luck.

She turned on the tap and stared at her own reflection.

_"Did you and Vanessa have sex after graduation?"_

_The question seemed to grow and press all the air out of the space between them._

_The silence was enough of an omission for her._

_Not to mention the look of guilt that shone in his eyes. Mixed with the look of embarrassment that you'd see on a kid who was caught with his hands in a cookie jar._

_With every second he refused to speak, her anger only burgeoned. The fact that she'd sacrificed her dignity in asking in the first place only managed to make her impossibly more irrate.__The realization that he felt ashamed helped nothing whatsoever as the silence pounded between them. Her resentment was palpable, and growing._

"_Allie-" he began but __his voice was cut off by the slam of Allie's fist against the dashboard, the loud pound amplified in the small space, before bringing her hands up to her face, her voice was incredulous as she interjected, seething,__ "Damn it, Bradin,"_

_"I asked you who it was, point blank,"__ she turned to look into his green eyes, honest and open, her voice breaking wondering what other things he 'edited' from her knowledge as her hands landed on the dashboard again, colliding with a thud._

_"And I lied, point blank," he answered, letting his gaze falter, flickering downward in shame._

_"Of course you did,"__ she scoffed, looking away, __though her voice emerged as insecure and hurt as she likely felt rather than angry and sarcastic as originally intended._

_"It wasn't something that I felt you could've handled," _

_"__You know __I am so genuinely sick right now that __if__ I'd have eaten anything, I'd be throwing up all over the car right now,__"__ Allie seethed, puffing and trembling with empty fury,__ as tears formed in her eyes, but of anger, __or __sadness __or __disappointment or hurt, she couldn't be certain._

_Bradin however was somehow wearing the expression of sheer panic that both confused and amused her. Was he expecting her to hit him, she wondered. His panic was perplexing.__ It would have been more amusing if she wasn't fighting the urge to inflict as much hurt on him as she could.__ But luckily, And truthfully, hitting him seemed senseless and unfulfilling and she damned his heartbroken gaze for taking the satisfaction it would have granted._

The door shut behind her as the very pregnant Vanessa sashayed into the restroom in all of her 3 inch heels Prada and red Valentino dress glory. Allie's fingers tightened its grip around the faucet before she shut the flow of water and pulled for the paper towels from the dispensers.

The clicking of the heels against the marble slabs came to halt when she realized the room wasn't vacant, her lips forming an 'O' at seeing who was in the room.

"Again, how awkward," Vanessa commented looking at Allie through the reflection.

"For me you mean? Not as awkward as this morning, believe me," Allie retorted, swiveling around to face Barbie, wait, pregnant Barbie for that matter as she caught sight of the completely manicured fingers, pedicured toes, 500 dollar hairdo and perfectly painted on make up.

"Not that it should matter but there is Some guilt involved here in the awkwardness," she commented tightly, setting down her glass of orange juice by the side.

Was Vanessa actually being, gasp, dare she say it, nice? Allie thought.

"Well, I wasn't aware that bastard children of Satan could feel guilt," Allie threw a punch at the pregnant woman. Confused she may be with the sudden civility, scared as she was with the sudden politeness in their interaction, she was not going to forget that she was speaking to Barbie Brigade, spawn of Satan, looks out only for her own best interest bitchy, slutty Vanessa.

"I know what you're thinking Allie, but it comes with the territory," she replied almost scathingly, almost, "I'm pretty, I'm a blonde, I'm not very smart, so my job in high school is to look pretty, act slutty and be a bitch," she explained as though life was really as simple as an equation, "Now, 10 years later, I'm still a blonde, still not very smart but married to a man who's got the mentality of a twelve-year-old boy, the body of a thirty-one-year-old man, a nine-figure contract with the league, twenty sponsorships, five houses, three yachts, ten cars, two snowmobiles, and a flaming case of herpes and my job is still to look pretty, act slutty and be a bitch, it's expected,"

Allie crossed her arms, listening to what Vanessa was saying and at the same time wondering if it were actually possible that there was more to her than the bitchy whore-esque exterior.

"But contrary to popular belief, I do have feelings, and I do feel terrible about what happened,"

"Ah, and what exactly was the 'what happened' that you feel 'terrible' about?," Allie questioned, without missing a beat, whether this part of her soul she was baring should she have one was real or not, the anger she had regarding the issue hadn't exactly dissipated, if anything, they had only had the chance to build over the past day, and what gave her the right to pick at the scab, she was the one who made the bloody cut in the first place, "For sleeping with.. him," she asked, unable to say his name, "Or for dishing it out over breakfast?"

"More of you overhearing it," Vanessa offered cattily before crossing her arms above her belly and leaning on the counter standing next to Allie and she raised an eyebrow, just as she was beginning to think that Vanessa DID have a soul. Then in a matter of factly tone, "You were broken up at the time,"

_"__We were broken up at the time,__"__ Bradin explained, but even he knew that he was grasping at straws._

_"__It didn't work for Ross on Friends and it sure as hell isn't gonna work on me!__"__ she snapped, before taking a breath trying to maintain some sort of balance, __"__You know how I feel about __her__!" she almost spat, her heading beginning to spin, "There is no way that at some point while __it__ was happening, you weren't thinking about how much I'd __hate__ you for doing that,__"_

_"__It wasn't like that,__"__ he defended himself__ as his eyes filled and brimmed with the pain of her scathing assumption._

_"__No? Do you want another variation cause I have a million sickening scenarios running on a loop in my head right about now,__" she spat at him, holding back the tears._

_"Als, __I wasn't trying to hurt you,__" _

"Oooh.." Vanessa gasped, placing a palm on her protruding belly, "I think oine of them just kicked," she smiled, not having to explain further. The thing about high school reunions was that if you were the small town Playa Linda resident high school blondie who married a professional baseball player, word about your 7 month pregnancy of twins would really move pretty fast.

"It's the orange juice," Allie offered, nodding her head at the glass Vanessa had just put down, "I've seen it happen to a dozen mothers, makes the babies go crazy," she shared a bit of her experience as an intern.

And Vanessa smiled for a moment before a look of pain flitted across her face, "Ahh!"

"Whoa, what's going on?" Allie asked, slightly concerned now, evil or not, more than just your average whore or not, Vanessa was quiet heavily pregnant.

"Yeah, my doctor said it's just normal third trimester to.. Ahhh! Oh My God!" she cried, voice going several notes higher.

"No, no no," Allie responded, moving closer to the pregnant blonde, "I may not be an OBGYN but whatever this is, this is not normal,"

She cried again, clutching at her pregnant belly, "Oh God..!" Vanessa closed her eyes as she clutched her stomach, "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God," she whimpered.

"Okay, come on, here, sit down, sit down," Allie offered, pulling out a chair and holding her hand.

"I think I'm having contractions," Vanessa gasped and Allie felt something warm rise up in her throat, that was definitely Not good, she thought.

"This can't be happening. This can't be happening.. Oh.. God.!" Vanessa cried again.

"Hey, hey look at me, Vanessa, look at me, what hurts?" Allie asked, jumping to doctor mode, placing her hands on the sides of Vanessa's face to have her look directly at her.

The blonde in front of her then gave an audible gasp of pain, clutching her belly, "I think my water just broke," tears began to form in her eyes.

"Whoa whoa, shh.. Just breathe, okay, just breathe," Allie tried calming her, good or bad, okay or not okay, a panicked mother was definitely not going to do any good for a baby.

"They're not ready yet, they're not ready," Vanessa wheezed in successive gasps, "They're not ready," she parroted, pleading.

"I know, I know, everything's gonna be okay, okay?" Allie comforted the almost hysterical mother, holding her hand, while looking around the empty restroom hoping for some sort of help to come along.

"They're barely 29 weeks, Allie, they're not ready yet," she repeated yet again.

"Vanessa.. Vanessa! I'm gonna help you okay, just breathe," Allie ordered.

"Oh God.." she gasped, face contorted in pain, tears streaming down her face.

"Shh.. I'm gonna help you, okay," Allie comforted her, holding Vanessa's hands as they gripped hers tightly in pain, "I'm gonna go get someone to help you," she stated but Vanessa's hands tightened around hers refraining her from leaving.

"You can't," Vanessa gasped, "I can't, I.. Oh my god, I can't, I'm gonna push.,"

"No no no, don't push, Vanessa, do not push, do not push!" Allie yelped, voice increasing in volume as she succumbed to panic.

xXx

"So you delivered your first babies today," Bradin's voice echoed down the empty hospital hallway.

"Yeah," she whispered, not even looking up at him.

She was still in the dress, which was stained red at places, heels in her hands, hair piled up atop her head with loose strands framing her face slick, make up disheveled and still looking ridiculously gorgeous for someone who had just delivered two babies in a hotel ballroom's bathroom.

He sat next to her and draped his coat over her shoulders as she remained seated in the hospital hallway, unmoving.

"They weren't ready," she whispered shaking her head, staring at the heels she held in her hands, "The babies, they-" she repeated, voice trailing off, sadness radiating off them, doing nothing to mask the sound of hurt and disappointment, "They were barely 29 weeks, they had extremely low birth weight, probably had multiple undeveloped organs, even with the best NICU, they weren't ready and they're not gonna.." her voice trailed off again as she held back tears.

"Als-" he started saying, trying to form some sort of words of comfort, but whatever he had planned to say, dried up in his throat. He wasn't sure exactly what she was saying and he dare not hazard a guess.

"They weren't ready," she whispered shaking her head before turning her head to look at him finally, eyes brimming with tears.

'Neither are we' remains unspoken. Just like it ought to be, he thinks, but it still hangs in the air between them.

Nobody ought to say those words, he thinks, not ever. Because it's not true. Because whatever that they had between them, 10 years in the making, whatever that stood in their way, they should be ready fight through it, together, headstrong and unafraid. Because as clichéd as it sounds, they had each other. Because what they have should be able to endure whatever else life had to throw at them. It was a long, pregnant pause before she lets the unspoken words hang in the air as she places her heels back on her feet, getting up to leave.

_"__I wasn't trying to hurt you,__" he stated calmly, again._

_He was pleading and he looked so desperate. So hopeless. So.. Hopelessly desperate that she wanted to just wrap her arms around him and hug him._

_Or kiss him._

_Or stab him in his fucking chest, and tell him to stay the hell away, the voice of logic crept up in her mind._

_Only in the silence she realized how hard she was breathing as compared to Bradin who seemed perfectly calm. Dejected, broken, and desperate, but calm. __But Allie's knees were weak. And the pure contrast of her weakness to the strength she felt minutes ago, portrayed by the gallant slamming of her fists on the dashboard, only succeeded in making her angrier still. So much so, that her hands which were curled into tight fists on the dashboard which had not moved since she pounded on it trembled with… some emotion she couldn't put a word to. Or maybe it wasn't ONE emotion exactly, it was a combination of two or more that coursed through her body. _

"And where does that leave us?" he asked just as she stood up and turned her back on him.

"I don't know," came to a reply, her voice thick as she holds back tears without turning to face him. She shrugs off the coat, his coat and leaves it on the chair, all done without looking back at him as he watched.

_Too many emotions. Too much._

_The "__whish woosh__" the echoed in her ears began to garble and crackle and her chest felt tight and constricted._

_The silence between them was deafening as his unspoken plea went ignored._

_"__Wow," she stated silently, "Imagine if you tried,__" she said nonchalantly__, her heart weighing heavily against the words that she knew to be a low-blow, but at the same time her head not really caring. He'd already taken his share of his low-blows. It only seemed fair. _

_Getting out of the car and marching off, Aaliyah did all she could to clutch to her pride and dignity or whatever that was left of it to not dissolve in tears before him. _

_She can't. And she won't._

_And he didn't chase her. Just as she knew he wouldn't._

He let her walk away from him.

Doing nothing to stop her.

**A/N : **I hope this wasn't too messy or incoherent. As usual, love it, hate it, love me, hate him, let me know what you think.. Drop your two pennies k.? Click that little button, go on, you want to….. :)


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